


Orenda

by BBQkitten



Series: Mettle of Supers [3]
Category: Monsta X (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Amputation, Angst, Camping in the woods, Changkyun has survivors guilt, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, I gave myself FEELS over this, Kidnapping, Kihyun likes to sing opera okay, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, Murder, Namjoon is a professional wood carver, Open Relationships, Self-Sacrifice, Seokjin does not approve, Shock Collars, Someone dies, Straight jackets, The boys are very attached to their long hair, This ended up being less epic training montage and more trauma, Torture, Violence, Vomiting, it’s not one of the main 14 though, revenge feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:00:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29804670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BBQkitten/pseuds/BBQkitten
Summary: “I wasn’t comatose,” he whispered, keeping his eyes firmly shut. “I— I could hear everything. I had to listen to Kyun-ah lose his fucking mind in that room and not be able to help him— or hug him— or tell him that everything would be alright. Every day he was so fucking brave even though he was absolutely terrified. He told me— there were a lot of things he told me and I’m— I don’t know how to help him.”ORThe much anticipated ‘training montage’ along with a hearty dose of painful flashbacks and Monsta X origin stories (because you can’t spell ‘hero’ without ‘trauma’).
Relationships: Chae Hyungwon/Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Jooheon, Everyone/Everyone, Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Jooheon/Song Gunhee | #GUN/Chae Hyungwon, Jeon Jungkook/Jung Hoseok/Kim Namjoon/Kim Seokjin/Kim Taehyung/Min Yoongi/Park Jimin, Lee Minhyuk/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu, implied all other relationships
Series: Mettle of Supers [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2104878
Comments: 9
Kudos: 33





	Orenda

**Author's Note:**

> Orenda— a mystical force present in all people that empowers them to affect the world, or to effect change in their own lives.

Kihyun shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably, gripping the straps of his duffel bag tightly. "Are we really leaving Seoul by bus, Hoseok-ah?" he asked, voice still hoarse from disuse and terrified of enchanting anybody. 

The younger nodded, looking off into the middle distance momentarily. "Yeah. This station's cameras are down so BigHit won't spot us leaving the city." He smiled reaching a hand out to the smaller male. "Come on, hyung's about to come around the corner with our tickets. Let's make sure the maknaes are ready to go." They made their way to the low wall where the majority of their ragtag group were situated. Hyungwon immediately staggered stiffly over to the two, wrapping his long limbs around Kihyun before pulling the elder towards where Changkyun, Jooheon, and Jungkook were pressed closely together. He did his best to avoid the gaze of passersby as they stared at the strange, bruised group of men waiting awkwardly near the bus station. 

Kihyun glanced over to Hoseok again, raising his eyebrow, “We’re gaining suspicion, kid.”

Hoseok shook his head, smiling lightly as he cupped Taehyung’s cheeks, leaning in to press a soft kiss to the younger’s lips. “We’ll be fine, hyung,” he reassured. “With the amount of gang violence in this area, everyone is just worried we’ll mug them, none of them are even thinking of Supers in these parts.”

The man nodded hesitantly, squeezing Hyungwon subtly to help hold him up as they waited.

A few minutes later, Seokjin and Hyunwoo returned, carrying a few shopping bags and a stack of tickets. Hyunwoo pulled out a few folded up backpacks, handing them to Namjoon and Hoseok who helped him get clothes and supplies out of the plastic bags and into the less suspicious bags. The eldest made his way over to where Wonho was cradling Minhyuk against his chest, leaning forward slightly so that his back wasn’t touching the wall as he watched the others with a hollow expression. 

The mind reader reached forward, hands hovering over the white haired male’s cheeks in a mockery of an embrace. “How are you doing, Wonho-ah?” he asked, leaning forward slightly as he looked into his dongsaeng’s lifeless eyes. “Can hyung touch you?”

Wonho gave a jerky nod, squeezing Minhyuk’s hips carefully as Hyunwoo’s fingers made contact with his skin. 

_ Fucking hurts so bad. _

“You’re  _ hurt _ ?” the elder asked in alarm, drawing the attention of the other men around them.

“No,” Wonho mumbled.  _ I’m healing. _

Hyunwoo was interrupted by the quick hiss of engine breaks as their bus pulled into the station. “We’ll talk about this later, Wonho-ya,” He murmured, pulling his hands away and turning around to allow Minhyuk to wrap his limbs around his back. The blonde did so happily, still very weak on his feet. Minhyuk wrapped himself close, pressing his cheek against the elder’s.

_ I don’t think his wings are growing back as fast as they should,  _ the speedster explained.  _ They wanted to see how much was too much before he couldn’t heal himself. I think his body prioritized his other injuries over his wings. _

The elder hummed thoughtfully, turning his head to give the blonde’s cheek a kiss in thanks. “We’ll check him out once we get to... wherever Hoseok-ah is taking us.” He reached back, threading his fingers through Wonho’s as he led them over to the rest of their group. Yoongi was similarly tucked against Namjoon’s back as the younger accepted half the stack of train tickets, helping to distribute them to everyone around them. 

“Your powers are seriously cool, Seokjin-hyung,” Jooheon praised from his spot on Hoseok’s back. The redhead giggled, playfully jiggling the younger as he tried to reach for the ticket. 

They all made their way onto the bus, claiming a section for themselves near the back. Hyunwoo helped Minhyuk down onto the bench seat before pulling Wonho down to rest against the younger. The man did his best to hide his wince as his back brushed against the backrest of the seat, quickly repositioning himself to tuck his head against Minhyuk’s shoulder instead. Minhyuk curled his arm around the elder’s waist, holding him close as he rubbed soothing circles against the sliver of skin that revealed itself when Wonho’s shirt rode up. Hyunwoo kissed both of them on their foreheads before moving to where Changkyun was trying to help Hyungwon into his seat. Jimin came over quickly, helping the younger by bracing the black haired man’s free side. Changkyun grunted his appreciation, kissing Hyungwon’s cheek before running off to help Seokjin and Taehyung with the rest of their newly acquired bags. The mind reader moved on after seeing Jimin reach into the bag he had been handed by Seokjin before he boarded, pulling out a water bottle and uncapping it and setting it in Hyungwon’s hands. 

“Do you need help drinking it, hyung?” he asked quietly, tucking himself closely to the elder. Hyungwon shook his head, smirking as he allowed the water to float up to his mouth in small bite sized orbs. Jimin snorted, rolling his eyes as he watched the other man, “Show-off.”

Hyunwoo made his way across the small aisle to where Namjoon was helping Yoongi onto the bench carefully. “Aish,” the mint haired man complained, squeezing the younger’s cheek fondly. “I’m fine, Joon-ah. You don’t need to baby me.”

Namjoon smiled, giving the elder a kiss. “I can’t help it hyung. I just want to take care of the people I love.”

The elder tsked, reaching up to cup Namjoon’s cheek. “Cheesy sap.”

_ “Red roses, hyung? Really?” Minhyuk laughed, throwing his arms around the elder in a tight hug, “You’re such a sap— so cheesy!” _

_ Hyunwoo laughed, pressing a fond kiss to the younger’s lips. “I can’t help myself, Min-ah. You bring it out in me.” _

_ “I love you, hyung,” Minhyuk whispered against his lips.  _

_ The elder smiled, pressing in close again. “Happy annivers—”  _

_ His world turned black as an explosion rocked the street, throwing both of them through a nearby shop window and knocking them unconscious. _

Seokjin wrapped his hand around Hyunwoo’s shoulders, pulling him from old memories. “Sit with me?” he asked, pulling the elder down onto the bus bench next to him. As they sat down, his wrist brushed the back of Hyunwoo’s neck, his cold skin sending shivers down his spine as Seokjin’s thoughts invaded his mind.  _ You’re not protecting them alone anymore, Hyunwoo. Relax— sleep a little. I’ll keep an eye on the kids. _

He laughed softly, allowing the other to pull him against his chest as he did as he was told. Seokjin hummed in satisfaction, opening his other side for Jungkook to curl up under his arm as the bus rumbled to life underneath them. The makane lifted his head, reaching behind him to accept the granola bar from Taehyung.

“Thanks, Taetae-hyung,” he whispered, holding the bar between two fingers very cautiously. 

“Overstimulated, baby?” Jin asked, using the hand not wrapped around Shownu to brush back the younger’s hair. At the boy’s nod he cooed sadly. “Want me to persuade you?”

Jungkook shook his head, “I don’t want to keep sleeping through this part, hyung. I— I can do it. It’s just— just sound that’s overwhelming right now.”

There was a thoughtful hum from across the aisle. Kihyun turned to sit sideways in his seat, reaching out for the younger. “Maybe I can help? I am a siren after all— even if my voice is a bit rusty.”

Seokjin released the younger, giving him a nod of encouragement as he let him up to slide out to the aisle seat. He pulled Hyunwoo with him closer to the window so that Jungkook could take Hyunwoo’s recently vacated seat. The younger sat sideways on his seat, reaching out to hesitantly take Kihyun’s proffered hands. 

“Close your eyes for me, Jungkook-ah?” Kihyun whispered. “And lean forward.” The boy did as he was told, jerking in shock when the pink haired man gently rested his lips on his ear. Cautiously crooning out a soft note, barely enough to vibrate his vocal chords but to the younger was like a symphony in his ear. He couldn’t help the soft hum of satisfaction as a wave of calm washed over him. 

Jungkook rocked forward with the motion of the bus, Kihyun catching him before he face planted against the backrest in front of him. “Thanks, hyung,” he murmured, eyes still closed as Kihyun hopped seats across the aisle to pull Jungkook into his lap as the boy melted in his arms. 

Kihyun hummed softly in response, rubbing the younger’s shoulder in response. “Of course, sweetheart. I’m glad I could help.”

The younger nodded, allowing his head to rest against the other’s shoulder as he carefully looked around. “I feel like I’m high— but I’m not asleep so that’s a plus.” He smiled against the other’s neck as he watched the scenery pass by.

Seokjin snorted from the other side of Hyunwoo, “Some voice you got there.”

_ Kihyun’s palms were sweaty. He rubbed them furiously on his slacks as he paced the floor behind the stage. “You’ll be fantastic— as always, Kihyun-ah.” _

_ He huffed out a laugh, rolling his eyes at the director. “Doesn’t make it any easier, hyungnim,” he muttered, taking a deep breath as a stagehand hurried over with an earpiece. _

_ The director chuckled, patting Kihyun’s shoulder before walking off towards the sound booth. “You’ll knock ‘em dead, Yoo Kihyun,” he called. “Your voice is gonna make you a headliner one day soon. Mark my words.” _

_ The boy closed his eyes, letting the stagehand hook him up as he tried to calm his breathing back down to manageable levels. It wasn’t like this was his first concert. He was a professional. Well— he would be... one day. He just needed to graduate and get some scouts to notice him tonight. It was all riding on his performance tonight.  _

_ Kihyun’s breath hitched. No, that wasn’t a good thing to think about right before he needed to go on stage. The stagehand broke his train of thought, patting his shoulder softly. “You’re good to go, Kihyun-ssi. I’m sure you’ll enchant the whole audience— like usual,” she murmured quietly, flashing him a flustered grin before running off. _

_ He took yet another steadying breath, shaking his limbs out before making his way onto the stage. Polite clapping greeted him as he took center stage, the director introducing him through the sound system as he bowed to the crowd. Kihyun was already sweating under the hot spotlights as he reminded himself not to wipe his hands on his pants as he stared out at the dark abyss in front of him, lights hiding the countless amounts of people watching him. A soft violin melody began to play as he brought the microphone up to his mouth. _

_ The second he began to sing, everything around him disappeared. He closed his eyes, getting lost in the melody as he sang. In that moment nothing else mattered. _

_ Until the lights went out.  _

_ People screamed, the sound of an explosion sending a small tremor through the building as the lights slowly flickered back to life. Kihyun flinched as the bright lights slammed into his retinas, feeling as though he had been hit with a small shock wave from the blast as he stumbled backwards. The pink haired man just barely kept his feet under him as he looked over to his director coming up on stage in alarm.  _

_ The man laughed uncomfortably, “I’m terribly sorry about the commotion, ladies and gentleman. Our Kihyunnie is so talented that even our equipment needed a moment to appreciate his voice. All systems are back up and running. We appreciate your patience and we’ll roll Kihyun back to the start for your listening pleasure.” The director looked over to the boy, nodding encouragingly as he exited the stage again. The violins restarted, Kihyun swallowing around the lump forming in his throat before opening his mouth and singing.  _

_ As the last notes hovered in the air, Kihyun pulled the microphone down from his face, staring out into the darkness beyond the lights. The auditorium was silent, not a single mutter or shifting in seats or sniffle. Nothing. _

_ He shifted from one foot to the other, biting his lip as he turned to face the left wing where his director was standing.  _

_ The man was staring at Kihyun in wonder, mouth wide open to catch flies as he stood frozen in time. His shoulders were slumped, clipboard lying forgotten on the ground where he had dropped it sometime during Kihyun’s performance. The violin music started up again, the track looping back to the beginning. Kihyun looked over to the sound booth in alarm, just barely catching sight of the sound manager standing in the little window, the same blissed out expression on his face as he stared at Kihyun.  _

_ “Hyungnim?” he called, taking a tentative step towards the director. The man didn’t move as Kihyun approached, “Hyungnim? Are you alright? What’s going on? This— if this is a joke, it’s really not a funny one, hyung.”  _

_ He chewed on his lip, looking back to the dark auditorium seating where he knew hundreds of people were sitting. He brought his hand up in front of the director’s face waving it madly and snapping his fingers as he tried to garner a response.  _

_ “Hyungnim!” Kihyun shouted, shaking the elder’s shoulders furiously. The man didn’t respond, body flopping bonelessly in his hold. He released the man, running back onto the stage and down the side stairs towards the audience. “Hello?!” _

_ The rows of people were visible now that he was on the opposite side of the spotlights. Each and every single person had the same expression as his director, their eyes followed Kihyun as he ran through the aisles, trying to find someone— anyone— who was still... conscious. He gasped, running out of the building as tears welled up in his eyes.  _

_ The sun blinded him momentarily as he staggered out the door. Outside was absolute chaos. Kihyun was sure he had just stepped into a dystopian novel as armed guards ran past him. There was smoke billowing from over the top of one of the buildings a few blocks over. He gasped, outright sobbing now as he grabbed at his hair. People were running past in panic, some were screaming or crying.  _

_ A guard ran up to him, assault rifle at the ready. “Why are you crying?” _

_ Kihyun shook his head, gasping for breath as he pointed towards the theatre shakily. The man raised a hand to his radio, shouting for more units before grabbing Kihyun by his upper arm and dragging him back towards the mouth of the theater.  _

_ “No— please. I don’t want to go back in there.” _

_ “What did you do?” the guard growled, shaking Kihyun’s small form like a rag doll.  _

_ “Nothing!” Kihyung gasped, trying to pull away as more armed guards came running up. Two of the men quickly grabbed hold of Kihyun’s arms, zip tying his wrists together behind his back as he cried, pulling frantically against their stronger grips. “I was just— just singing. Why are you arresting me! Get off of me!”  _

_ More guards ran into the theatre, the sounds of frantic angry shouting from inside before heavy artillery fire echoed through the doors. Kihyun screamed, dropping like a stone in the mens’ grasps as one of the guards stalked out. “Get me a gag,” he ordered, one of the men running off quickly to do as he was ordered. The angry guard charged over to Kihyun, pulling him up by his hair. “What did you  _ do _?” _

_ The boy sniveled, shaking like a leaf in the others’ hold as he shook his head to the best of his ability. “I— Nothing. I didn’t do anything! I was just— it’s spring recitals! It was Nessun Dorma! Please! I don’t know what happened!” _

_ The other guard came running back, terrifying gag in hand as he passed it over to the one seemingly in charge who snatched it furiously before shoving it in Kihyun’s mouth, a large plastic piece forcing his tongue tightly to the bottom of his mouth as he strapped it around the boy’s head, uncaring of the hairs he pulled out with the buckle. “You must have some voice on you kid. You just killed an entire auditorium of innocent people. We’re taking you in.” _

"Hyung?" Changkyun whispered hesitantly. 

Jooheon looked up at the younger in shock, quickly scooting over to give the other space to sit down on the bench next to him.

The boy carefully lowered himself into the seat, pulling his knees up to his chest as he rested his chin on top of his arms, turning his head to watch the elder with careful eyes. 

"I'm sorry, hyung."

Jooheon’s brows furrowed in confusion, reaching over to wrap his arm around the younger’s shoulders and pull him to his chest. “What are you sorry for, Kyunnie?” he asked, kissing the boy’s hair fondly. 

Changkyun took a deep shuddering breath, tucking his face into his hyung’s chest as he bit back his tears. “For Gunhee-hyung.”

Jooheon swallowed around the lump in his throat, reaching out to slowly pull the younger into his side. "There's nothing to apologize for, Kyun-ah. Gunhee loved you and he made a choice to protect you. I could never hold that against you— if I had been in his shoes, I would have made the same choice. So would Hyungwon, for that matter. We all love you and we’ll always protect you, Changkyun-ah." He pulled the younger’s head to rest against his shoulder, leaning over to press a soft kiss to his hair. "I miss Gunhee every day," he whispered, closing his eyes. "But we can't change the past, so let’s do our best to keep him alive in our hearts and protect each other for him."

Changkyun nodded shakily, pulling out of his fetal position to wrap his arms around the elder's waist. "I love you, hyung. We’ll— we’ll make Gunhee-hyung proud."

“I love you too, Kyunnie,” the elder murmured, resting his cheek on the top of Changkyun’s head. “Sleep. Hyung will wake you up when we get there.”

_ “Are we going to the aquarium, hyung?” Changkyun asked excitedly, bouncing in his seat slightly. Jooheon giggled, shaking his head as he threaded his fingers through the younger’s. _

_ “Nope.” _

_ “A cat cafe?” _

_ Jooheon shook his head, smiling brightly. “You’re not gonna guess it, Kkukkungie.” _

_ Changkyun pouted, dropping his chin down to rest on Jooheon’s shoulder as he tried to look cute for the elder. “Give me a hint, hyungie? Why did Gunhee-hyung and Hyungwon-hyung have to go ahead of us? Oh! Are they saving us seats for something? Are we going to a concert?” _

_ The blue haired man shook his head, cackling at the disgruntled expression on his boyfriend’s face. “Just relax, baby,” Jooheon cooed, wrapping his arm around Changkyun’s shoulders as he pulled the younger against his chest. “I’m starting to feel neglected. Here I am taking my beautiful boyfriend on a romantic train ride and all he can talk about is his  _ other _ two boyfriends.” _

_ “That’s not playing fair, hyung,” Changkyun whined. “The three of you always gang up on me.” _

_ “It’s called a surprise, maknae,” Jooheon responded playfully, reaching down to boop the younger’s nose. “And yes, they had to go ahead to get seats. But it’s not a concert.” _

_ Changkyun bounced in his seat excitedly, grinning widely at the elder. “Oh! Is it a —” _

_ “Nope,” Jooheon answered, shoving his hand over Changkyun’s mouth to silence the younger. “No more guesses. You’ve run out of lives. Now you just get to stew in your suspicions.” Changkyun pouted but nodded his head as he sat back against the elder.  _

_ Changkyun was off the train the second the doors opened, dragging Jooheon behind him excitedly. “Where are you going, Kkukkungie?” the elder asked playfully. “You don’t even know what we’re doing.” _

_ The younger huffed, rolling his eyes. “You’re too  _ slow _ hyung,” he whined. “Aren’t you excited to see hyungs? They’ve been gone all weekend.” _

_ Jooheon nodded, smiling fondly. “Yeah, baby, I’m excited to see Wonnie and Gun too. Come on, it’s this way.” _

_ He led the younger down the street, Changkyun skipping gleefully next to him as he took in the busy Seoul atmosphere. Eventually, Jooheon led him to a park entrance. The younger gasped as he saw the sign. “A carnival, hyung? Really?” He smiled widely when Jooheon nodded his head before pausing, cocking his head to the side in confusion. “Wait— hyung, you don’t need to save seats at a carnival.” _

_ Jooheon ginned widely, winking at the maknae. “I lied.” He turned pointing to where Hyungwon and Gunhee were waiting for them by the ferris wheel. “Look, hyungs are waiting for us.” _

_ Changkyun squealed, waving to his hyungs excitedly just as the world exploded around them, sending them into darkness.  _

Hoseok stood up excitedly, pulling Taehyung with him as he shook their friends awake. 

Seokjin rolled his head back on the bus seat to look up at the younger in annoyed confusion. “We’re here, hyung,” Hoseok whispered, pulling his backpack down from the overhead storage rack. Taehyung moved across the aisle, gently brushing Jooheon’s hair back as he relayed the message to the younger. The boy had been sleeping soundly, head cushioned in Changkyun’s hair as he nodded tiredly in the shapeshifter’s direction before carefully nudging his dongsaeng awake as well. 

Taehyung hummed contentedly, moving up to where Minhyuk had Wonho cradled against his chest. The blonde smiled at him, giving him a thumbs up as he rubbed careful circles into the nape of Wonho’s neck. “Is he alright?” the younger asked, gesturing to where the white-haired male stayed unresponsive but not asleep.

He nodded, giving the boy a reassuring smile. “He will be,” Minhyuk responded quietly. “He’s— still healing.”

“You guys keep saying that,” Jin noted from across the aisle, helping Kihyun maneuver a spaced out Jungkook off of the bus before getting up himself. “I feel like you’re not telling us everything. If— if he’s hurt we should know.”

Hyunwoo nodded, carefully collecting Wonho in his arms. “We’ll explain once we’re... wherever we’re going.”

Taehyung reached out to help Minhyuk up, wrapping his arm around the elder’s waist to keep him steady as they made their way off of the bus as well. Jimin was giggling from the seat ahead of them, trying to encourage Hyungwon to wrap his long limbs around him. 

“I promise I can hold you, hyung,” he giggled, pulling Hyungwon’s arms around his neck as he stood up. Jimin collected the elder’s legs under his arms, piggybacking the man out as Hyungwon groaned in resignation, dropping his head on the younger’s shoulder in defeat. 

The black haired boy continued giggling as he carried Hyungwon off of the bus, stopping along the wall where Jooheon and Changkyun were resting against each other sleepily. Jooheon opened his free arm, helping Hyungwon off of Jimin’s back and into his side as the three slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Kihyun wandered over, passing Jungkook to Jimin before heading back to the bus to help with the others. The bus station was rather empty, not many people still traveling at such a late hour and those who were moved quickly, heads down as they made their way to their destination. The group of boys stood out like sore thumbs, their only consolation that they were well out of Seoul. 

“You know where we are?” Jooheon asked, looking over to Jimin. 

The other shook his head, petting Jungkook’s hair softly as the boy slowly blinked back into awareness. “Woah,” The youngest murmured, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “That was really— trippy. Kihyun-hyung is so cool.”

Jooheon giggled, nodding his head. “What’s it like? I’ve never gotten to experience hyung’s siren song.”

“Is that what it’s called?” Jimin asked, cocking his head slightly. “A siren song?”

The elder shrugged, tucking Hyungwon’s head against his neck. “No clue, sounds cool though. Once we’re settled, we should make hyung sing to all of us. It looks like he got Kookie high.”

Jungkook nodded, closing his eyes as he dropped his forehead to Jimin’s chest. “It kinda felt like I was high too,” he added. “It— he didn’t dull my senses but it was like— more manageable? It was weird. Things that usually over stimulate me just... didn’t bother me— like everything was through rose-colored glasses. I felt— really happy.”

Hyungwon snorted, raising an eyebrow at the maknae. “Freaky. Take me on your trip next time,” he rasped, voice barely audible even in the near silent station. 

The younger flashed him a smile, “Yeah, Kihyun-hyung can get us high together.”

They were interrupted by a loud clap, Hoseok coming up to them with two backpacks draped over his shoulders. The psychic smiled widely, offering a hand to Changkyun, who took it gratefully before helping the others up. “Where are we going, Hoseok-hyung?” he asked quietly, wrapping his arm around Jooheon’s waist. 

Hoseok’s grin widened, “Some place we’ll be safe. I sent Jinnie-hyung to go get us a van. Unfortunately it’s only a nine-seater so some of us will have to share. Don’t worry though boys, it’s only a twenty minute car ride.”

The car ride ended up being nearly forty minutes but that was mostly due to Hoseok making Namjoon pull into a sporting goods store. He dragged Seokjin in with him, telling everyone to wait in the car while they got some supplies. Jimin started crying when they pulled up to an old secluded campground. 

“No, Hobi,” he whined, crossing his arms in indignation. The effect was nullified by the fact that he was sitting on Jungkook's lap, the younger’s arms bracketed tightly around his middle as a makeshift seatbelt. He could hear Taehyung’s wholehearted agreement from the backseat where he was curled up as a small black kitten in Wonho’s lap. The white haired man had taken an immediate liking to Taehyung’s cat form, actually smiling for the first time as he cradled the boy’s tiny body between the palms of his hands.

Hoseok laughed fondly, turning around in his seat to ruffle the younger’s hair before unbuckling and climbing over Seokjin to hop out of the car. The elder huffed, swearing as he undid his own belt buckle. “God, Hob-ah. You couldn’t wait two seconds for me to get out first?”

The younger looked down in embarrassment before smiling brightly. “Sorry, hyung. I saw it raining and I wanted to get the tents set up so that we wouldn’t have to all sleep in the van tonight. I forgot to wait.”

Seokjin rolled his eyes fondly before pulling the younger in for a quick kiss. “It’s alright, Hobi. Just breathe for hyung. We’re safe now. You’ve made sure of it.” Hoseok nodded, smiling at the elder. “Help me set up the tents?”

Hoseok nodded again before turning back to the van. “Joonie, Hyunwoo-hyung? Would you two go get some firewood so Yoongi-hyung can start a fire for us?” The two nodded their heads in easy agreement, Hyunwoo gently maneuvering the fire bender from his lap and into the vacated seat. 

Jimin hopped out of the other side of the van with Jungkook following behind tiredly. “How can we help, hyungie?” the shorter chirped, bad mood already forgotten. 

“Would you two set up the coolers on the picnic table over there? We’ll send some of us into town in the morning for some groceries but for now we can set up a temporary shop with what we got,” Hoseok responded. “Changkyun-ah, Kihyun-hyung?” he called, “Would you two mind helping us set up the tents? There’s three of them so we could use the extra hands.” The boys made sounds of agreement before they began the arduous task of getting out from the third row of seats without disturbing their injured friends in the process. There was a questioning ‘meow’ from inside of the van making Hosok turn back towards them. “No, Tae-ah,” he called. “You can stay with Wonho-hyung.” Hoseok handed the two boys one of the tents they had picked up from the sporting goods store before directing them to an area on the other side of the fire pit.

A short while later, the two elder boys came back from their wood collecting, Hyunwoo announcing their presence by his loud, deep laughter. Hoseok looked over, sighing exasperatedly as he watched Namjoon come through the trees with an entire log propped over one shoulder. “Joonie,” he called, “We needed firewood, not a pyre-starter.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes, carefully lying the tree trunk down a few feet from the fire pit. “I’m aware, Hoseok. This isn’t firewood. There’s no place to sit around here though. I figured not everyone would want to sit on the grass.”

The redhead blushed, looking away from the smug man in front of him before hurrying away to finish setting up his tent. Namjoon laughed, blowing the slightly older man a kiss before disappearing back into the tree line to get another log. 

Hyunwoo made his way over with his armful of actual firewood, setting it up in the pit before moving back to the van to look through the bags. “Hoseok-ah,” he called, head still buried in the trunk. “Where’s a lighter?”

He heard a snort from inside of the van, looking up to spot Yoongi’s unamused expression. “I am the lighter, hyung,” he informed the elder, deadpan expression cracking as he tried not to laugh at Hyunwoo’s flabbergasted expression. 

“Ah— sorry, Yoongi-ah,” he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck before moving up to Yoongi and offering the younger a hand. The man accepted it gratefully, quickly wrapping his arm around Hyunwoo’s waist for support as the elder helped him over to the fire pit where he stuck his hand out to light the fire instantaneously. Namjoon appeared with another large log, deftly avoiding the boys as he gently set it down on the other side. He crouched down in front of it, dragging his hand across the bark with just the right amount of pressure to strip the tree, leaving behind a smooth finish. Hyunwoo scoffed, rolling his eyes at the younger as he muttered, “Well now you’re just showing off.”

Jimin and Jungkook giggled from their spots at the picnic tables. “Just wait until hyung decides he wants to sit where you’re sitting so he just picks you up and sets you in his lap like you’re a toy,” Jimin divulged.

Namjoon huffed, turning to glare at the younger. “That was  _ one _ time, Jimin-ah,” he whined. “And you liked it.”

The boy hummed thoughtfully. “I did. You can manhandle me anytime, Joonie-hyung,” he purred.

Jungkook rolled his eyes, grabbing a couple packs of hotdogs before going over to where Hyunwoo had set Yoongi down on the ‘sanded’ bench. “You did a good job, hyung,” he praised, flashing the elder a bunny-toothed smile. 

Namjoon smiled softly, bending over to press a gentle kiss to their maknae’s lap, “Thank you, baby.”

“Want me to cook those?” Yoongi asked, gesturing to the hotdogs. 

Jungkook grinned widely, shaking his head. “No way, hyung. We’re  _ camping _ . We can’t use super powers to cook our hotdogs. I’m gonna go get some sticks.”

The mint haired man rolled his eyes fondly, pinching Jungkook’s cheek before he got too far. As Namjoon finished the other bench, carving out more of a backrest for that one before going over to the van to help Hyunwoo unload their more injured friends. Jooheon was giggling madly in Namjoon’s arms as the man brought him over to the fire, Hyunwoo following with a much more subdued Hyungwon wrapped around him like a koala. The water bender whined as Hyunwoo tried to let him go. 

“Come on, baby,” the elder murmured, brushing Hyungwon’s hair back. “Let hyung go so that way he can get the rest of our boys, okay? Then you can sit in my lap.”

_ You’ll feed me? _

Hyunwoo laughed, “Yes, Wonnie. Hyung will feed you.”

Hyungwon smiled widely, releasing the elder as he walked back over to the van. Namjoon and Minhyuk were trying to convince Wonho to let kitty Taehyung go so that they could get him out of the van. The mind reader sighed, climbing into the back of the van as he gently took Wonho’s hand in his. “Wonho-ah?”

_ He’s soft. I know— I know he’s not actually a cat but— he’s soft and safe and I don’t want to let him go. Everything hurts, hyung. _

“I know,” Hyunwoo murmured, wrapping his free arm around Wonho’s back, careful not to touch where his wings used to be. “You can hold Taehyung again later, alright? But I’m sure he’d like to eat with everyone too.”

Wonho nodded his head once jerkily before hesitantly pulling his hands away from Taehyung’s fur. The boy slowly got up, stretching his tiny body before reaching up to boop his nose against Wonho’s making the man smile. Kitty Taehyung deftly leapt off of the man’s lap and ambled out of the van, morphing back into his human self once he was outside. Carefully, Hyunwoo wrapped his arms around Wonho, cradling him against his chest as he scooted out of the van. Giggling could be heard from the campfire where Taehyung had turned himself into a tiny monkey and was currently crouched on Jooheon’s shoulder as he played with the elder’s hair. 

Hyunwoo smiled, making his way towards the kids with Wonho in his arms, securing the man to his side as Hyungwon happily scrunched in close to his other side once he was sat down. Namjoon followed behind with his arm around Minhyuk who stubbornly refused to let the man with  _ super strength _ carry him. 

“Hyung is so stubborn,” the younger blonde muttered unhappily as he tried to subtly keep Minhyuk’s weight off of his bad leg as much as the other would let him. Minhyuk rolled his eyes, pinching Namjoon’s side before sitting down on Jooheon’s free side. 

The rest of the boys came over shortly thereafter once they had finished putting together the tents. Seokjin cackled as he plucked Jungkook’s hotdog from the boy’s stick before he had a chance to eat it, making the younger yelp in indignation. The boy ceded easily, releasing a happy smile when Jin followed his action up with a kiss.

Once everyone’s bellies were full, Namjoon turned to face Hyunwoo and Wonho intensely. “You said you would explain Wonho-hyung’s powers?”

Hyunwoo nodded, pressing a kiss to the younger’s temple before explaining. “Wonho-ah can... regenerate. And— for some reason— the blast also gave him wings.”

Taehyung gasped, sitting forward excitedly. “You have  _ wings _ , hyung? That’s so cool! I’ll practice turning into a bird so that we can learn how to fly together— how cool would that be?!”

“Wonho-ah said that he would like that very much once his wings grow back,” Hyunwoo responded for the quiet man. 

“So— he can regenerate. Like he can heal himself?”

Wonho nodded slowly, clenching Hyunwoo’s fingers tightly. “Yes,” the elder responded. “But BigHit— they— they liked to push the limits with him. See how much damage was too much damage.”

_ Wonho was too close to the blast.  _

_ He woke up in a daze as his body slowly stitched him back together. Above him was an armed guard pointing an automatic weapon at him. He eyed the man in terror, unable to move but unwilling to stay put. The man looked... hungry as he stared down at the slowly healing man. Vaguely, Wonho heard the militia man say something about him being useful and calling for reinforcements. When said backup arrived, an angry, thick man crouched down by his chest, flicking the gash that was on Wonho’s cheek as it stitched itself together before his eyes.  _

_ “Shoot him,” the man commanded. “If he can’t come back from the dead his healing ability is useless.”  _

_ A gunshot was the last thing Wonho heard before his world faded to black again.  _

_ He woke up strapped face down to a table. Something on his back felt... strange. Like there were extra points of contact near his shoulder blades that pulled... something down to the floor on either side of him. He shifted, trying to get a peek at what was on his back, eyes widening at the cache of white feathers that hung down on the side of the table. They almost looked like wings but from Wonho’s awkward position he couldn’t be sure. As Wonho tried to discern if this was some horrible practical joke or not, the door opened, allowing entry to three men in white lab coats and another two of those terrifying guards with guns. He whimpered at the sight of the rifle, the sound of a gunshot ringing through his head like cannon fire.  _

_ “Subject 203 is awake,” the tallest of the three scientists spoke, voice high and grating in Wonho’s ears. “Total down time was four hours, nine minutes, and fifty-three seconds. No residual evidence of the entry nor exit wounds. Seems to not yet be in control of its extra appendages.” _

_ He felt the... wings... shift on their own as he tried to see more of the room. One of the guards stomped up to him, pulling harshly on his new limb. Wonho screamed, feeling the wing dislocate from— wherever it was attached.  _

_ “Control yourself, Jimseung,” another one of the scientists scolded. “The 203 can’t exactly hurt us right now.” _

_ The guard, Jimseung, scrunched his nose in irritation. “You don’t know anything about these Supers, sir. He could be highly dangerous.” _

_ “And you’re a sadist,” the man replied snarkily. “Control your urges or we’ll relieve you from duty.” The scientist turned toward Wonho, looking at him directly when he asked, “Do you feel any residual pain from your gunshot wound?” _

_ “I was— I should be dead,” Wonho gasped, trying to pull himself up from the table despite his restraints. “I’m— alive.” _

_ The scientist sighed, looking up at the ceiling momentarily as if he were asking for assistance from higher powers as he dealt with someone he didn’t believe was worth his time. “Do you feel any residual pain from your gunshot wound? Yes or no.” Wonho bit his lip, trying to hold back his tears as he shook his head in the negative. “Good. Now, Doctor Lee, grab your kit, let’s test the sensitivity of the wings.” _

_ By the time they were finished, Wonho’s voice was raw from screaming. His entire back felt as though it had been put through a meat grinder before being set on fire. On the floor sat his wings. They were stark white, longer than he was tall and  _ beautiful _... or— they had been before they were removed from his body, coated in his blood as they sat limply on the cold white tiles. Wonho was shaking. The scientists had left his back exposed to the cold air, the blood cooling as it ran sluggishly down his sides and onto the table below. Blessedly, they had left him alone for a moment as they went to do... something. Honestly, Wonho couldn't care less. He was just thankful they weren’t hurting him any more. He wasn’t sure how long he had been there, under the scientists’ cold expression and sharp scalpels. At one point, they had maneuvered him into a sitting position, strapping him down so that he could watch his skin stitch itself back together as they sliced him open.  _

_ Removing his wings was the last thing they did before leaving him alone. The guard, Jimseung, grinned manically the whole time, getting as close as possible without getting in the way. Wonho was incredibly thankful that the scientists had removed the guard from the room when they left. He was afraid of what the man would have done if left alone with him.  _

_ He sniffled, pressing his cheek against the frigid metal of the table. He just wanted this to end though Wonho was learning very quickly that his new healing abilities were very fascinating to the scientists and that relief would not surely end soon, especially since learning he could apparently cheat death. _

_ A few hours must have gone by before the itching in his back became unbearable. The wounds had stopped bleeding a while ago but since then the skin had begun to prickle painfully. He squirmed, trying desperately to reach at his back to soothe the itch as he flexed his muscles. The door opened, two of the scientists coming back in. The shorter of the two stepped forward, poking at Wonho’s back with his pen. The man screamed, jerking uselessly in his bonds as a sharp pain pierced through him at the touch.  _

_ “Regenerative properties apply to loss of limb,” the man noted, taking his pen to write on his clipboard. “The wings appear to be regenerating rapidly. Six hours from amputation and regrowth is at approximately ten inches in length. All minor injuries on Subject 203’s body have already mended themselves. At current rate of growth, 203’s wings should be fully restored in twelve to eighteen hours. As of present data, 203 does not meet the requirements for integration. It will need to be run through more tests before anything more definitive can be determined.”  _

_ The two men took some more tests— scraping Wonho’s tongue, taking blood samples, poking and prodding his stumps— before leaving him blessedly alone. He released a shaky sigh of relief, closing his eyes as he finally allowed himself to relax as much as he could in his current bindings.  _

_ Eventually, he healed completely and the scientists came back, restarting the process with his legs this time. Wonho had never felt so much pain in his life as he screamed, begging for help, as they meticulously sawed his left leg off at the knee. At some point, he must have lost consciousness. When he came to again he was in a different room. His wings were strapped tightly to his back, pressing uncomfortably against the hard back of the chair he was bound to. He closed his eyes when he saw the stump of his leg, half regrown as he hung limply from his body. _

_ “What the hell did they do to you?” a voice asked. Wonho looked up to find himself surrounded by other men also strapped against chairs. The man who spoke was blonde, slim, and practically vibrating in his own bindings across from him. His eyes were wide, unable to tear himself away from Wonho’s stump. _

_ “I— it’s growing back,” another man whispered in horror. Wonho looked over to him, the tiny boy’s body was slumped in his bindings, brown hair flopping into his eyes as he struggled to keep himself upright. The boy had dark rings under his eyes, probably on par with Wonho’s own; a heavy-looking piercing weighed down the cartilage in his ear as he stared at Wonho’s leg.  _

_ Wonho swallowed, looking back down at his stump tiredly. “Yeah,” he whispered, voice nearly nonexistent as he spoke. “It does that now apparently.” _

_ “What’s on your back?” the man next to him asked. This man was large, nearly as built as Wonho himself, and looked the most held together out of all of them. _

_ “Wings,” he whispered, flinching as he remembered the bloody appendages lying on the floor when they had removed them the first time. “They— they grow back too.” _

_ The man sucked in a breath, leaning forward in his bindings as if to reach out to hug him before catching himself against the straps. “Fuck,” he whispered, staring at the other in horror. “What the fuck.” _

_ It was silent in the room for a while before the tiny man spoke up again, eyes barely open as he whispered, “I’m Changkyun.” _

_ The blue haired boy next to him nodded, “Jooheon. The one sleeping across from us is Hyungwon and Gunhee is next to him. They’re— we’re all...” _

_ “Together,” Gunhee finished, smiling at Jooheon softly. His hands were bound tightly against his chest, a matching earring to Changkyun’s weighed down his own ear. _

_ “Minhyuk,” the vibrating man offered carefully. “That’s my fiance, Hyunwoo.” He gestured to the bulky man next to Wonho who offered him a reassuring smile. “We think he’s Kihyun,” he continued, looking over at a small, pink haired man who’s entire lower half of his face was covered by a large, imposing gag. “At least that’s what that sick fuck Jimseung has been calling him.” _

_ The pink haired man shuddered before nodding his head at Minhyuk’s assumption. His eyes softened as he watched Wonho shiver at the mention of the crazy-assed guard, letting out a soft humming sound through the gag that immediately relaxed everyone in the room. Wonho’s eyes slipped shut, feeling as though his pain was slipping through his fingers. _

_ “Kihyun-ah,” Hyunwoo scolded gently. “They’ll remove your vocal chords if you can’t control it, hunny. Please be careful.” He turned to face Wonho who slowly blinked his eyes open as he fell back into awareness. “Kihyun has some kind of siren’s ability. His voice is like a drug or something.” _

_ “Was it the explosion?” Wonho asked slowly. “I don’t remember much of it if I’m honest. Was too close. Died from it, I think.” _

_ Minhyuk sucked in a breath. “You— you can come back from the dead?” _

_ Wonho nodded, gunshot echoing through his head.  _

_ “That’s terrifying.” _

“They never stopped,” Wonho rasped, pressing close to Hyunwoo’s shoulder. “Every time I healed, they’d just hurt me again.” Hyunwoo squeezed his waist gently, mindful of Wonho’s stumps.

“Every time they hurt him they did more damage. They wanted to test his limits— see what was too much for him to heal from,” Hyunwoo continued. “He’s— they did a lot to him before they brought him to that room we were in. It’s— it’ll probably take a few days before he really starts to heal.”

Kihyun hummed sadly, shuffling to crouch in front of Wonho. “Do you want me to put you under, hyung?”

Wonho shook his head. “It’s okay, Ki,” he whispered, dropping his hand to thread his fingers through the pink haired man’s. “I don’t want to miss any of this.” He threw the younger a small, shaky smile. “It’s starting to itch. I’ll be better soon.”

The younger nodded, pressing his cheek against his Wonho’s knee affectionately.

“No one is going to hurt you again, Wonho-hyung,” Namjoon stated firmly. “We’ll protect you.”

The others nodded resolutely, unwilling to see the white haired man in that position ever again.

Once the sun set, the boys began to pack up for bed. Seokjin, Namjoon, Hyunwoo, and Hoseok went back over to the van and unloaded a pile of sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses, dividing them out between the three tents and setting them up. 

“So,” Seokjin started, rubbing his hands together nervously. “How are we doing this?”

Jooheon wrapped his arms around Changkyun and Hyungwon tightly, pulling them both to his chest. “We’re sleeping together,” he stated firmly. 

Hoseok threaded his fingers through Yoongi’s tightly. “You’re sleeping with me, hyungie,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the older’s cheek. 

“Maknaes in one tent and split the hyungs in the other two?” Minhyuk offered, laying his head on top of Kihyun’s gently. 

“Kitty,” Wonho whimpered, nearly silently. 

Taehyung blushed, shooting the elder a fond smile. “I can sleep with hyung,” he offered. “I sleep better as a cat anyways— and hyung is really warm... like laying in the sun.”

Wonho looked down at his lap, blush settling heavily across his cheeks. Hyunwoo chuckled, standing up as he picked up Minhyuk bridal-style and brought him over to the tent closest to them after stopping by the maknaes so that the blonde could give them goodnight kisses. He tucked the younger under the covers before heading back out to collect Wonho as well. Kihyun was standing when he returned, small arms wrapped around Jimin’s waist as he led him and Taehyung over to the same tent. Wonho’s blush only deepened when Hyunwoo displayed his strength by picking up the built man easily. 

“Are you sure  _ you’re _ not the one with super strength, hyung?” he muttered, pressing his face into the elder’s neck as Hyunwoo began walking towards the tent. He carefully lowered Wonho down onto the middle of the bed, letting the younger reposition himself onto his side so that he was facing Minhyuk. Taehyung gleefully jumped into the tent, transforming mid-air into a small black cat, before curling up against Wonho’s stomach. He released a soft, rhythmic purr against the elder’s wrist when he brought his hand down to run through his fur, pressing his warm nose against his skin. Everyone in the tent tried to muffle their coos at the two’s interaction as Kihyun carefully led Jimin down onto the sleeping bag on Wonho’s open side. The elder kept his arms wrapped around Jimin tightly as he pulled the blanket up over their shoulders tightly, making the younger giggle. Shownu smiled, crouching down by their heads to place kisses on each of their temples, relishing in the soft ‘ _ love you, hyung,’ ‘thank you, hyungie,’  _ and  _ ‘sleep well, Nunu-hyungie _ ’ he received from each of them.

“I’ll be back,” he whispered softly. “I’m going to make sure everyone else is set up for the night. I love you all too.” The mind reader made his way back out of the tent to where Seokjin was trying to coax a very sleepy Yoongi into the tent on the far side of the camp. Namjoon was crouched by the maknaes, smiling softly as he ruffled Hyungwon’s hair before picking the younger up and carrying him over to the tent between the two hyung tents. Hyunwoo made his way over to the maknaes as well picking up Jooheon before he could protest and followed behind Namjoon. The man chuckled at Jooheon’s feeble protests as he laid him down next to Hyungwon gently. He pressed soft kisses to each of their cheeks, murmuring a soft, “Good night, sweethearts,” before exiting the tent again. 

Changkyun was standing, fingers threaded through Jungkook’s as the younger said good night to Hoseok and Namjoon. The two men were smiling softly at their youngest. “You can sleep with us if you want to, baby,” Namjoon whispered, cupping Jungkook’s cheek fondly. “It doesn’t  _ have _ to be just hyungs.”

The youngest shook his head, rather frantically, at the suggestion, knuckles turning white in their increased grip around Changkyun’s. “No, that’s alright, hyung. I’d— I need to sleep with Kyun-hyung and Wonnie-hyung. If— if that’s okay with you?”

“It’s quite alright, baby,” Namjoon murmured softly. “We’ll see you in the morning, okay? Sleep well, Kookie.”

Jungkook nodded, smiling at his hyungs as he waved them off to bed sleepily, hand slowly unclenching from it’s death grip around Changkyun’s now that he was certain they wouldn't be separated. Shownu came over, wrapping his hands around their shoulders as he led them over to the maknae tent. “See you in the morning boys,” he whispered quietly, fondly ruffling their hair before leaving them in the mouth of the tent, making his way back to his own tent once he was sure the two youngest had closed their tent door behind them and the fire had died down to cooling embers in the pit. 

Hyunwoo carefully climbed around the already-sleeping boys in his tent, zipping the door securely behind him before wrapping his arms around Minhyuk’s waist as he spooned the younger. Minhyuk giggled sleepily, threading his fingers through the elder’s wrapped against his stomach. 

_ Kids all put to bed? _ He hummed, nodding against Minhyuk’s back in response.  _ Good. I’m— I’m really glad those boys got captured too. It sounds horrible but if they hadn’t then we’d still be in that facility and I’d be on my way to becoming a mindless drone like JB. I overheard them talking about my ‘transition’ once my leg was healed. I can’t— don’t ever let me become that, hyung. _ He thought furiously.  _ If I become  _ **_that_ ** _ , I want you to kill me. I don’t want to live like that. _

“I can’t promise that, Min-ah,” he choked out as quietly as he could. “I won’t. Even if they did catch us again. Even if they did get inside and mess with your head. I’d find a way to bring you back.” He brought Minhyuk’s left hand up to his mouth, kissing the younger’s ring finger where an engagement ring used to sit. “I promised forever, baby. That’ll never change.”

Hyungwon tiredly opened his arms for the two boys when they finally entered the tent. Changkyun went down easily, laying down on the boy’s free side as he pressed his nose against his bicep. The elder rolled his eyes fondly, motioning for Jooheon to scoot over a bit as he beckoned Jungkook between the two of them. “Come here, Kookie,” he encouraged. “Honey and I haven’t gotten to cuddle you much yet. Kyun-ah has been hoarding you.” 

Hesitantly, the youngest climbed into their pile, careful not to hurt either of the boys. Jooheon hummed happily, pushing Jungkook even closer to Hyungwon before bracketing him in tightly. 

“That’s better,” he murmured. 

Jungkook closed his eyes, allowing Hyungwon’s steady heartbeat to lull him to sleep in the general quiet of the forest surrounding them. 

Changkyun peaked his head over Hyungwon’s shoulder, watching the younger drop off. “He’s precious, right?” he whispered.

“Almost as cute as you,” Hyungwon responded, turning his head to kiss Changkyun’s cheek. “I’m so happy to see you two again. I’ve— I’ve missed you so much.” He reached his fingers down to wrap them around Changkyun’s wrist. “You kept me sane in there, Kyunnie. I— I think I would have given up a long time ago without you.”

The younger sucked in a deep breath, pressing his face as close as possible to the elder’s skin. “I’m glad you didn’t, hyung. I wouldn’t have made it in there without you.” He peeked over at Jooheon sadly. “I don’t know how you did it, hyungie. All alone.”

The boy swallowed thickly, tucking his head against Jungkook’s. “I don't know how either. I just knew that I couldn't— I couldn’t leave you behind too.”

Hyungwon’s breath hitched in his throat, squeezing Changkyun’s wrist as tightly as his weak fingers could. “You’re never allowed to leave, Honey. Neither are you, Kyun-ah. I won’t— I won’t lose either of you. Gun was enough— too much. Never again.”

“No one else is dying,” Jooheon intoned sadly. “Not either of you, or Kookie, or Jimin-ah, or Tae-ah, or anyone of the single goddamn hyungs in the other tents. We’ll protect them all. We’ll get strong for them.”

“We’ll keep them safe,” Changkyun agreed, kissing Hyungwon’s shoulder as he closed his eyes. “We’ll keep them all safe.”

Namjoon sighed, flopping down heavily on the sleeping bag. “Are you sure we’re safe here, Hoseok-ah?”

The elder nodded, head already buried against Yoongi's chest. “Yeah, Joonie,” he murmured, “We’re safe here. No one will find us until we want to be found.”

“Why would we want to be found?” Jin asked aghast. 

Hoseok just grinned, closing his eyes. “Because we still have some ass to kick.” He reached across Yoongi to rest his hand on Seokjin’s stomach gently. “Let’s get some sleep, hyung. We’re going to need it.”

They woke up to screaming. Jin shot up, body flying on autopilot as he ran out of the tent towards the maknae’s where the screaming was coming from. The pre-dawn light guided his path as he fumbled with the zipper, he could hear Hyunwoo’s heavy breaths as he finally got the damn door open before crawling inside. Jungkook was cradling Hyungwon’s body against the far wall of the tent as Jooheon tried to dodge sharp-looking shadow tendrils that whipped around Changkyun’s frantically twisting form. The poor boy was still asleep, trapt in a nightmare as Jooheon tried to wake him up without getting hit by the younger’s subconscious defense mechanism. 

Just as Jooheon narrowly dodged a shadow taking a swipe at him, Seokjin sighed, focusing as he said, “ **Wake up, Changkyun** .”

The boy gasped, shooting straight up as the shadows receded back inside of him as his eyes opened frantically. “What—” he gasped, wrapping his arms around himself. “What happened?”

“You had a nightmare, Kyun-ah,” Hyunwoo murmured, crawling across the sleeping bags to carefully pull the younger into his lap. 

Jin peeked his head out of the tent, shooting the others a small thumbs up from where their own heads were poking out of their tents before scooting further inside of the maknae tent. Shownu’s eyes were closed, listening intently as he heard Changkyun’s detailed recount of what happened in his dream; a horrible memory he never wanted to relive ever again. 

_ Gunhee knew it wasn’t going to end well when they dragged Changkyun out with him for ‘testing.’ The younger was shaking as his straight jacket was hung up across from Gunhee, the smaller man’s feet struggled to touch the ground. He bit his lip as he examined the stark white room around them. It was completely empty with the exception of the two of them and a tall woman with two... collars. A guard held his head still as he was fastened with a collar, another guard holding a rifle to Changkyun’s head as incentive to behave.  _

_ Gunhee did.  _

_ He glared at the woman as she locked the collar tightly around Changkyun’s neck, the boy swallowing his whimpers as it nearly cut off his air circulation. Gunhee was going to kill her. He was going to kill all of them. The three of them backed out of the room, the two guards holding their guns at the ready the entire time.  _

_ He looked over at Changkyun, face melting into a soft smile as he tried to reassure the maknae. “It’ll be alright, baby,” he murmured, nodding his head as much as he could with the collar. “Just look at me. Keep looking at me.” _

_ The woman’s voice sounded over an intercom system. “Testing shock collars in three, two, one—” Gunhee and Changkyun let out simultaneous screams as their bodies flailed in their bindings. The electricity only lasted for a few seconds but they were still gasping for breath nearly a minute later. “Collars online. Commencing testing sequence.” _

_ “Straight at me, baby,” Gunhee gasped, trying to keep the tears at bay as Changkyun began crying. “It’ll be alright, hyung will take care of you.” _

_ “Supers,” the woman called. “We need to test the limit of your powers. The two of you will fight one another. If you refuse, electric force will be used, further refusal will result in both of your terminations.” _

_ Changkyun gasped, shaking his head frantically. “You can’t— you can't do this. Kill me— I won’t— I won’t hurt hyung!” He screamed, shaking violently as the collar shocked him.  _

_ Suddenly, the pulley systems holding them above the floor released, dropping them to the floor harshly. The latches in the straight jackets disengaged, allowing for them to pull themselves out of the restraints. Changkyun flung himself at Gunhee, wrapping his arms around the elder tightly.  _

_ “Hyung,” he gasped. “Hyungie.” _

_ Gunhee shushed him gently, pulling him away enough to press a soft kiss to his lips. “It’ll be okay, Kkukkungie.” _

_ The woman’s voice echoed over the speaker again accompanied by a short, painful shock from their collars. “Fight, Supers. Or we’ll bring in one of your other boyfriends as collateral. Dreadfully irresponsible of you to have so many weak spots,” she mocked.  _

_ Gunhee stood up, helping his shaking boyfriend to his feet as well. “Fight me, baby. It’s okay,” he reassured. “You won’t hurt me.” _

_ Changkyun nodded, slowly allowing the shadows to collect around his fists tightly as he backed up a few steps. Gunhee did the same with his light, creating two blinding orbs around his forearms before pushing them out towards the younger. Darkness engulfed the room momentarily as Changkyun wrapped himself in the shadows to protect himself.  _

_ They fought like that for what felt like hours; one of them lashing out with their powers while the other defended themselves. Gunhee could feel himself losing his strength and one glance at the other he knew Changkyun was closer to passing out than he was. He swallowed, glaring up at the camera before turning back to his boyfriend. “I love you, Changkyun,” he whispered, allowing his light to wrap around his chest.  _

_ Changkyun sniffled through his tears, sending the elder a wobbly smile. “Love you more, hyungie.” _

_ Gunhee smiled, nodding his head invitingly, “Your turn, baby.” _

_ The younger shook, shadows threading through his fingers as he drew his hands back to attack. Just as he’d hoped, Changkyun aimed for Gun’s guarded chest. Gunhee dropped his light, just as Changkyun’s shadows pierced his chest.  _

_ Changkyun screamed, dropping to his knees as his shadow impaled his hyung. “Hyung,” he sobbed, scrambling to catch the elder. _

_ Gunhee smiled, reaching up to stroke the younger’s cheek as he choked on his own blood. “Fo— for— give you. Not— your fau— lt. Love you— Ky— kyunie.” _

_ The maknae screamed, grasping desperately at Gunhee as the man’s arm fell limply onto his chest. “No! Hyung! Hyungie, come back! Please. Gunhee!” Gunhee’s eyes stared up at him lifelessly, a single tear falling down his cheek to mix with the blood slowly making its way from his lips. “Please— hyung... I can’t do this without you.” _

_ “Congratulations, 293. You move on to the next set of testing.” _

Seokjin swallowed thickly, biting at his thumb anxiously as he watched Changkyun break down in the elder’s grasp. Cautiously, Jooheon scooted over to him, tears threatening to escape down his cheeks as he wrapped his arms around the elder’s middle, pressing his face into Jin’s chest as he shook. He gasped, wrapping his arms around the boy tightly, as he pulled Jooheon into his lap. “You’re alright, angel,” he whispered, combing his fingers through Jooheon’s too-long hair. He glanced over to Jungkook where the youngest had gently collected Hyungwon’s stiff limbs between his legs as he let the elder lean against his chest. “You’re all alright now.”

“Come ‘ere, Hyunwoo-hyung,” Seokjin called from his seat at the picnic table. The elder walked up, cocking his head curiously as the younger patted the bench between his legs from where he was sitting on the table. “Let me get rid of that mop on top of your head, hyung,” he cooed, ruffling the man’s shaggy hair as he sat down complacently. 

“Thank you, Jin-ah,” he murmured, closing his eyes as the other began to work through his hair with a pair of scissors they had picked up at the sporting goods store the day prior. “Good luck convincing any of the other boys though. I think some of them are going to be particularly attached to their new hair styles.” 

Seokjin snorted, “They look like hoodlums. If we’re going to fight against the forces of evil then we’re going to do it looking fly as hell.”

Hyunwoo laughed loudly, smiling over to where Jooheon was sitting patiently in the grass as Jimin and Taehyung braided his overgrown hair, all three of them giggling infectiously. Through the sheer screen of the tent flap, he could see Minhyuk wrapped around Hyungwon tightly as the two of them tried to get some more shuteye. Yoongi wandered over to the tent like a zombie, eyes still fully closed as he collapsed on Hyungwon’s free side, making the other two giggle sleepily as they pulled him closer. The maknaes were at the treeline, careful not to leave sight of the campsite due to Namjoon’s request (demand) as they gathered what they could for more firewood. Kihyun was digging through the coolers with Hoseok as they tried to find something to make for breakfast for everyone. 

Hair fell around his shoulders in large chunks, making the eldest chuckle as he picked up a lock of it. “It got really long, huh?”

Seokjin hummed disapprovingly, combing his fingers through the man’s much shorter hair as he caught another chunk that was still too long. “Much better,” he declared a few minutes later, fondly ruffling Hyunwoo’s fluffy hair. “Now you look like a functional member of society. Get me another unruly boy, hyung.”

He chuckled, rolling his eyes goodnaturedly as he glanced around for Seokjin’s next victim. His eyes narrowed in on Changkyun, who had given up in his stick collection with Jungkook and was instead laying on the grass with the younger boy as they soaked in the sun. “Kyun-ah,” he called, making his way over to the two.

Changkyun glanced up, eyeing Hyunwoo distrustfully before shaking his head. “No way, hyung. I’m keeping it.”

“You tell Jin-ah that yourself, kid,” he chuckled, offering a hand out to the maknae. 

The boy pouted, accepting Hyunwoo’s hand begrudgingly before pulling Jungkook up with him. “It’s not fair, hyung,” he whined, reaching up to pat the elder’s hair. “He did such a good job.”

Hyunwoo nodded, gently guiding the boy over to sit down between Jin’s waiting legs. “He did, baby. You’ll look so handsome once he’s done.”

Changkyun looked up at him in betrayal. “Are you saying I’m not handsome  _ now _ , hyung?”

He shook his head sagely, wrapping his arm around Jungkook’s waist as he turned away. “No, pup. You look like a miscreant.”

The elder ignored Changkyun’s indignant yelp as he guided Jungkook into the woods, offering the younger to help gather some firewood. The boy was sweet and Hyunwoo could see why his maknaes were so taken with the younger. Jungkook had an air about him that just screamed ‘protect me’ but also ‘I can crush you with my pinky finger if you hurt someone I love’ and the duality of the boy made Hyunwoo smile. The kid had flinched when a bird chirped from a tree nearby, rubbing at his ear in pain before a wide smile broke out on his face, turning to Hyunwoo in excitement. “It’s babies just hatched,” he exclaimed, looking up into the trees in fascination.

Hyunwoo could only chuckle, nudging the younger fondly as he led him back to camp, their arms piled high with wood. The camp was absolute chaos when they got back. Changkyun was pouting fiercely, wrapped up in a blanket burrito as he laid against a petrified looking Jooheon who kept pulling at his overgrown hair in distress. Jimin and Taehyung weren’t helping the matter at all, cackling madly from the other log bench as they watched a resigned looking Minhyuk get his hair cut by Jin. Wonho was sitting against the bench watching the scene passively in a way that told Hyunwoo he was enjoying himself much more than he was letting on. In the grass, Hoseok was standing with his feet spread apart, a determined look on his face as he moved his arms around in front of him in a weird pattern. 

“What are you doing, Hoseok-ah?” Hyunwoo asked, dropping his wood on the ground near the fire pit.

Wonho shook his head sagely, glancing over at the strange psychic in amusement. “Don’t ask, hyung. Just leave him be.”

Hoseok huffed, dropping from his stance as he glared at the elder. “Please. I’m trying to concentrate, Wonho-hyung, and your negative attitude is not helping my chi.” There was a moment of silence before the younger boys broke down into giggles, even Changkyun broke his moping to smile at the elder. “It’s not funny! I’m trying to open a portal!”

“Are you— are you still on that Doctor Strange joke, Hoseok-ah?” Hyunwoo asked, cocking his head at the younger in concern as he made his way over to the boy. He cupped Hoseok’s cheeks between his palms as he eyed the bruise that was slowly healing on his temple. “Maybe you got hit harder than we thought. You should lay down, kid.”

The younger stuttered, trying to pull free with little success as Hyunwoo collected him in his arms and frogmarched him over to the tent where Hyungwon and Yoongi were still sleeping. “I’m not— I didn’t hit my head, hyung,” he complained, trying to turn away from the tent. “I need to practice!”

“Did you see yourself doing it? Opening a portal?” 

“Well—  _ no _ ,” Hoseok sighed in exasperation, shaking his hands at the other as he tried to reason with him. “But I can't see everything all the time, hyung! I’m not as cool as Doctor Strange yet!”

Hyunwoo laughed, ruffling the younger’s hair as he encouraged him to lay down, smirking when Yoongi immediately latched on to the younger in his sleep. “I think you’re plenty cool, kid. Get some more sleep, okay?” Before the boy could respond, he turned around and left, zipping the tent flap closed as he did so. 

“Thank you,” Namjoon called from over by the van. “I’m not sure he actually slept at all last night.”

“Visions?”

Namjoon shrugged, coming over with a new hooding for the elder to change into. “Probably. Hobi doesn’t like to admit it when he needs help. He thinks that he always needs to be this perfectly put together person, even when he’s hurting or scared. None of us are really sure how to get through to him though.”

Hyunwoo smiled, clapping the younger on the shoulder. “It’ll be okay, kid. We’ll take care of each other. None of us are alone anymore.”

_ “Min-ah! Minhyuk-ah!”  _

_ Hyunwoo coughed, the smoke sitting heavily in his lungs as he searched for his fiance through the rubble.  _

_ “Hyung?” Minhyuk called back from somewhere out of sight.  _

_ “Minnie? Where are you, baby?” Something crashed into him, knocking him off of his feet at the force of it. He gasped, wrapping his arms around the body practically vibrating against his own at the speed in which Minhyuk was moving.  _

_ “Hyung?”  _ Oh my god, there he is. What the fuck just happened?  _ “Hyung? What happened? Are you alright? _ ” He’s bleeding. My hyung. My baby, oh my god. We need help. 

_ Hyunwoo groaned, shaking his head as Minhyuk pawed at his cheeks frantically. “ ‘m ‘kay,” he mumbled, trying to talk over Minhyuk’s loud, frantic screaming. He opened his eyes as Minhyuk kept worrying on top of him noting in horror that the younger’s mouth wasn’t moving. “Hyuk-ah? You— you’re not saying anything.” _

_ Minhyuk shook his head.  _ Of course I’m not saying anything. I’m waiting for you to say anything. Fuck he’s bleeding really badly. Focus— Minhyuk. Answer him. _ “What do you need, baby?” _

_ He shook his head, groaning as Minhyuk’s thoughts— because that was the only explanation that made any  _ sense _ — reached new levels of petrified screaming. “You’re shaking, Min,” he noted, wrapping his arms around the younger tightly as he sat up. He held his fiance against his chest tightly, Minhyuk’s legs twitching rapidly. _

_ “I can’t— I have to  _ move _ , hyung,” he explained.  _ I’ve to go. I’m so restless. I feel like I’m going to vibrate off of the planet. I could run for days— weeks? Forever, maybe. What the hell happened to us? What’s wrong with hyung? He keeps groaning. He must be in pain.

_ “I can hear you.” _

_ “What?” _

_ Hyunwoo groaned, dropping his head onto Minhyuk’s shoulder. “In my head. You’re— you’re in my head. I can hear you.” _

My thoughts? Hyung can read my thoughts? Don’t think about how you broke his favorite mug last week— fuck! Wait! Not important! What the hell happened?

_ “Freeze! Don’t move or we shoot!”  _

_ The two whipped their heads around to face the small group of military men in front of them. Each man was holding an automatic rifle that was pointed directly at their head. Hyunwoo went to raise his hands in surrender but Minhyuk jerked out of his hold the second he let go, causing him to wrap his arms around the younger tightly. “I can’t— I can’t hold still!” Minhyuk cried, raising his shaking hands as they vibrated so fast his arms were just a blur. “I’m— I’m trying.” _

_ “Get the tranqs,” one of the men hollered, lowering his gun in exchange for a different, larger one. “We got live ones.” He raised the large gun, wasting no time as he pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession. Hyunwoo and Minhyuk collapsed backwards, the tranquilizers working faster than the movies would suggest as they fell into blackness instantaneously. _

“Wonho-hyung?” Namjoon called, carefully crouching in front of the elder. “Can I check on your wounds? I’m— I’ve been trained on first aid. It’d— it’d make me feel better to see that you’re healing well myself. I understand though if you don’t want to show me.”

Wonho thought for a moment, allowing Kihyun’s hand in his to comfort him before slowly nodding his head. “Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

Namjoon smiled softly, offering the elder his hand. He took it gratefully, pulling Kihyun up with him as the three of them made their way over to one of the unoccupied tents. He helped Wonho onto the mattress, laying him gently onto his stomach. The black hoodie rode up his torso slightly, baring bruise-mottled skin. “Fuck,” Namjoon mumbled, tracing a finger lightly across his back. “And you heal  _ fast _ ?”

The elder nodded slowly, helping Kihyun when the smaller male attempted to pull off his shirt. “Body’s prioritizing,” he explained into the pillow. The two men sitting on either side of him sucked in horrified gasps as they caught sight of his mangled back. The skin had pulled away from his back in some places, dried and painful-looking where they knew it had to have been pulling on his shirt. There were two deep gouges in his upper back where a small... growth... could be seen sticking out, covered in blood and a clear, sticky liquid. 

Kihyun pulled away, crawling out of the tent as he began gagging. Namjoon glanced back at the elder in concern, relaxing when he heard Hyunwoo collect him. He turned back to Wonho who was watching him in concern from where he was resting his cheek on his arms. “It’s gruesome isn’t it?” he asked, not bothering trying to see.

“I don’t— I don’t know how you're conscious right now,” Namjoon admitted, averting his eyes from the elder’s back.

Wonho chuckled humorlessly. “I passed out a lot from the pain in the beginning,” he admitted. “But after a while you get used to it, you know? Like... it’s painful as fuck and all I want to do is cry but I know that’s not a good use of my energy so...”

Namjoon nodded, carefully hovering over Wonho’s nubs. “We— we probably shouldn’t keep these covered up all the time. It— don’t you think it’ll make them grow in wrong?”

“I don’t want to scare the kids,” Wonho mumbled, turning his head away. “It’s— I know it’s horrible, even before Ki-ah confirmed it by throwing up.”

“They’ll understand, hyung,” Namjoon mumbled, rubbing the small area of smooth skin soothingly before moving to stand up. I’m going to get the medkit and put some salve on what I can. I’ll be right back.” He stepped out, grabbing the frame of the tent for support as he took a steadying breath. 

“You alright, Joon-ah?” Yoongi asked quietly, coming over to wrap his arm around the younger’s waist. 

Namjoon nodded his head shakily, moving towards the van. “Yeah. Just— just need the first aid kit.” Yoongi moved forward, grabbing the kit before the younger could and led him back to the tent. “Hyung?”

“I’m coming with you, Joon,” Yoongi stated firmly. “From the sounds of it, you’re going to need a second set of hands.”

The younger swallowed thickly, grabbing Yoongi’s arm warningly. “It’s bad, hyung.”

“And we’ll help him get better, baby,” he reassured. “Let’s go patch up our resident self-healing tank, yeah?” 

Namjoon snorted, a small smile stretching across his lips. “A tank, huh?”

He rolled his eyes, unzipping the flap. “You have a better description? Adonis personified, perhaps?”

“Are you complimenting my muscles without me, Yoongi?” Wonho asked, shooting the other man a small, playful smirk. 

Yoongi shrugged, kneeling down next to the white haired man gently as he took in his back with a grimace. “Fuck,” he muttered.

Wonho snorted, turning away from him resolutely. “You should have seen me before the blast. My body was a temple. When I heal up I’ll show you. I bet I’m even stronger than our very own superman.” Said man chuckled, rolling his eyes as he began to apply ointment to the open wounds. “I heal, Joon-ah,” Wonho reminded him. “You— you can save that for the others.”

“I know. I don’t want it to get infected though,” Namjoon murmured, carefully rubbing it in around the stumps of his wings. “And Jin-hyung can always get more.”

Yoongi reached for the gauze, helping wrap it around Wonho as he held the other’s weight up. “When I get my hands on those motherfuckers I’m going to tear them to pieces,” he growled, staring at Wonho’s back as if it had personally attacked him. “I’m going to make what they did to you look like a hug. Fucking disgusting, useless excuses of human beings.”

“Hyung,” Namjoon warned. “You’re smoking.”

The elder swore, ripping the door to the tent away as he stormed off. 

“Is he okay?” Wonho asked, taking Namjoon’s proffered hand as he sat up. 

“He will be,” the younger reassured softly. “Hyung doesn’t like seeing people he cares about in pain.”

He nodded in understanding, allowing Namjoon to lead him back to the fire pit shirtless as everyone else gathered around him to inspect the visible damages. Jooheon collapsed against Wonho’s thighs, sobbing as he clung to the elder while Taehyung shrunk down into his favorite cat form and curled up in his lap. From his side, Changkyun reached up to press a soft kiss to his shoulder. “Love you, hyung,” he mumbled brokenly. “I love you.”

Hyungwon was down by the lake. They had been at the campgrounds for a few weeks now and the boy had slowly gotten his strength back after being atrophied for so long. It was the first time he had ventured to the lake himself and he was honestly regretting that decision despite his overwhelming desire for five minutes of silence. He loved his hyungs and dongsaengs but he was an introvert and he needed a few minutes to himself every now and then. He had woken up before the sun and, like an idiot, decided that he would go watch the sunrise down at the lake by himself. Now, he was sitting on the sandy beach, sun just over the horizon, unable to get up. He didn’t realize how long of a walk down to the lake it was when he wasn’t being carried by one of the hyungs or Jungkook. Hyungwon groaned, dropping back against the sand as he looked up at the clear sky overhead. 

At least it wasn’t raining.

He sighed, digging his fingers into the sand as he closed his eyes, resigned to the fact that he was stuck there until one of the hyungs found him and nagged his ear off for the irresponsibility of his actions before taking him back home. As if on cue, the sound of someone clomping through the sand reached his ears. He kept his eyes closed as someone sat down next to him, their fingers threading through his hair softly. 

“You’re lucky no one else is awake yet,” Namjoon whispered. “I think Minhyuk would have had an aneurysm.”

Hyungwon snorted, nodding his head in agreement. “I just wanted to watch the sunrise,” he admitted. “I didn’t realize how hard it would be to get back up the hill though.”

“You’re still healing,” his same-aged friend reminded him gently. “Probably best not to overexert yourself just yet.”

“Jooheon can run around by now,” he huffed petulantly. “And Wonho-hyung’s completely healed up— his wings are even fully regrown. I just— why am I not healing as fast as they are?”

Namjoon chuckled, shifting Hyungwon’s head so that it rested in his lap instead of the sand as he combed through his hair with his fingers. “Wonho-hyung’s powers are his healing abilities,” he said. “And Jooheon was still able to move around a bit while he was contained.  _ You _ on the other hand were comatose. It’s going to take a while to come back from that.”

“I wasn’t comatose,” he whispered, keeping his eyes firmly shut. “I— I could hear everything. I had to listen to Kyun-ah lose his fucking mind in that room and not be able to help him— or hug him— or tell him that everything would be alright. Every day he was so  _ fucking _ brave even though he was absolutely terrified. He told me— there were a lot of things he told me and I’m— I don’t know how to help him.”

The other man nodded in understanding. “Not being able to help him must have been incredibly painful,” he agreed. “But you’re both here now. You’re both safe. And you’re both  _ healing _ . I’m sure it couldn’t have been easy for you in the silences that he left for you either.”

Hyungwon shook his head. “I kept— kept thinking how  _ close _ I was to escaping. How— if I hadn’t hesitated we would have made it out. How I should have prioritized better. I blew my one shot at freedom.”

_ Hyungwon wasn’t stupid.  _

_ He glared at the guards as they dragged Wonho back in from another ‘session.’  _

_ Humans are sixty percent water. _

_ He remembered that fact from science as a kid.  _

_ Humans are sixty percent water. _

_ The guards that were hurting them were sixty percent water.  _

_ He glared at the men, focusing on where their fingers were wrapped around Wonho’s neck as they dragged him back into the room. The guard stumbled, staring at his hand in shock as he released Wonho one finger at a time. The man gasped, body jerking like a marionette on strings as he flew into the wall. The other guards acted quickly, one racing over to the wall where he hit an alarm just before Hyungwon threw him into the ceiling as well. Taking a deep breath, he pulled all of the guards into standing positions. Making them pull out their guns and point them at the door. He ignored the gasping, choking noises coming from them, uncaring about their well being as he made them pull the triggers simultaneously when the door opened.  _

_ Eventually the guns ran out of bullets and, desperately, Hyungwon threw the guards themselves at the incoming reinforcements. The men were mowed down by their colleagues without a thought and Hyungwon in turn did not care as he took control of the men in the doorway instead. He heard them gag as their bodies moved against their will, eyes rolling back up into their skulls. Before he could react, the door slammed shut automatically. He tried to force the guards over to him, encouraging the water in their clunky fingers to undo his bindings just as an ominous hiss sounded from the sprinkler system above. His hyungs shouted in panic, jerking frantically in their own bonds as a white gas rained down on them.  _

_ He screamed, which was, admittedly, a poor choice as more gas got into his lungs. His world faded to black.  _

_ When he woke up he was certain he was in hell. It was bright and hot and he couldn't see anything. It felt like he was in slow motion as he tried to get up. Hyungwon wasn’t tied up anymore; straight jacket and horrid chair were gone but he couldn't move much more than when he was in the chair anyways.  _

_ “ ‘yungs?” he called, coughing at the dry feeling in his throat. He licked his lips, pushing himself up on his hands and knees. “Hy— hyungs?” _

_ The sound of a flap opening and shutting reached his ears. His head whipped around to face a stark white door where, in front of it, on the floor was a pathetic plate of food. Hyungwon crawled over to it, the gnawing pains twisting in his stomach a harsh reminder of the last time he had been given anything to eat. He inhaled the food, desperate for anything to soothe his throat.  _

_ Hyungwon glared at the door fiercely, pushing the empty plate away from him. The next time they opened the door he would be ready for them.  _

_ This was what death felt like. Hyungwon had collapsed on the floor, staring listlessly under the hot lights. They were dehydrating him. He couldn’t move, blinking slowly as the door opened and a body was thrown in carelessly. The body was sobbing. _

_ Deep, gut-wrenching sobs echoed through the room as Changkyun turned to slam into the door angrily. “Fuck you!” he screamed, pounding on the door with his bloody fists. “Fuck you! I’ll— I’ll kill you next! I’ll kill you!” He dropped down to the ground, sobbing weakly as he continued pounding on the door. “I’ll kill you,” he mumbled, dropping his forehead against the door. _

_ Hyungwon’s fingers twitched as he tried to reach out to his youngest boyfriend, make a noise, do anything to let the younger know that he was here. That he wasn’t alone.  _

_ He couldn’t do anything as he watched Changkyun breakdown through hazy, half-closed eyes. Eventually, the boy’s tears did slow as he turned to investigate the rest of the room. He gasped as he caught sight of Hyungwon, practically flying over to him. Changkyun pulled the elder into his arms, tears renewing as he pulled Hyungwon’s stiff body against his own. Hyungwon gasped as the tears hit his skin; a cruel teaser to what he was truly craving.  _

_ “Hyung,” he gasped, clinging on to Hyungwon as if the man would disappear if his grip were too loose. “Hyung, we— we thought you were dead. Hyungie—” Changkyun pressed a series of frantic kisses to his lips. Hyungwon wanted so badly to return the kisses, to wipe the boy’s tear stained cheeks, to ask him what happened, but he was trapped in his own body, unable to help his maknae. “Hyung— Gun— Gunhee-hyung is—”  _

_ Changkyun broke down into sobs again, body shaking as he held the elder tightly. Hyungwon felt as though lead had been poured into his stomach. He didn’t need the younger to finish that sentence to know how it ended.  _

_ It did surprise him, however, when, hours later, after Changkyun’s tears had been spent and he was lying catatonically on the floor wrapped around the elder, he whispered, “I killed him.” _

“I was so angry, hyung,” Hyungwon whispered, wrapping his arms around Namjoon’s shoulders from where he had migrated to sitting in the other’s lap. “Not at him— never him. But at BigHit and what they did to him and what they did to me. I—”

Namjoon hummed quietly, petting Hyungwon’s hair as he rocked the other gently. “It was cruel,” he agreed, kissing Hyungwon’s temple unconsciously. “And we’ll destroy them for what they did.”

Hyungwon nodded in agreement, burying his face closer to Namjoon’s neck. They were silent for a while, listening to the steady lapping of the waves against the beach before Hyungwon carefully shifted in Namjoon’s lap. “Can we go back, Namjoon? I’m hungry.”

The blonde boy laughed, smiling widely as he stood up with Hyungwon still in his arms. “Thank fuck,” he declared. “I’m starving.”

Minhyuk stared at Hoseok in confusion. The man was sitting in the grass as he stared up at the sky blankly, blinking rapidly. Something about him made Minhyuk shift uneasily as he watched the kid start to jerk as if he were having a seizure. Suddenly, it hit him. Hoseok had been sucked into one of his black holes. He looked around frantically for one of Hoseok’s twenty-seven boyfriends, swearing when he realized that they were all  _ not here _ . Seokjin had taken Hyunwoo, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Jungkook into town for more supplies. Jimin and Taehyung were down at the lake with Hyungwon, and Jooheon and Wonho were sleeping with Changkyun and Kihyun respectively. That left him in charge of camp. And apparently handling Hoseok’s black holes. 

He tried to remember what Jin and Namjoon had told the group about them. He couldn’t remember much beyond that they sounded really freaking scary. He did remember something about physical touch. Was it absolutely  _ no _ physical touch or absolutely  _ yes _ physical touch? He released a whine as Hoseok’s jerking got worse. 

Minhyuk took a deep breath, crouching down in front of him as he took a leap of faith and pulled Hoseok into his arms. He cradled the younger man between his thighs, resting Hoseok’s head against his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around his torso. “You’re alright, Hoseok-ah,” he murmured, “You’re here with me— Minhyuk. At camp. Jimin and Tae are down at the beach with Wonnie. And Kyunnie, Ki, Honey, Wonho-hyung are taking a nap. Wouldn’t you like to wake up and join them?” He reached up, rubbing the pad of his thumb along Hoseok’s cheekbone.

The younger shot forward with a gasp, grasping at the grass frantically as he panted. “Fuck,” he mumbled, leaning forward until his forehead was pressed against the cool earth as well. “ _ Fuck _ . I didn’t think BigHit would work so fast.”

“What’s going on, Hoseok-ah?” Minhyuk asked in alarm, already halfway to standing to go get the boys scattered across the campgrounds. “Do we need to run?”

Hoseok shook his head, slowly pushing himself upwards. “No, it’s— everything is alright. It’s just— I think we need a family meeting. Joon-ah needs to explain some things.”

Namjoon shifted uneasily in his seat. He was clenching his knees tightly, doing his best not to push holes through the jeans in his anxiousness. Seokjin sighed, glancing between Hoseok and Namjoon worriedly. “What is this about, Seokie?” he asked. 

The psychic’s expression was stone faced, staring at Namjoon. “Why don’t you ask Namjoon that, hyung.”

The younger sighed, clenching his teeth as he glared at Hoseok. “Why don’t you just come out with it, Hoseok. What did you see that’s making you so agitated?”

“You— you created whatever it is they’re injecting into the chipped Supers.”

Namjoon sucked in a breath, leaning away from the older as his eyes widened in terror. “I— I thought that was all destroyed in the blast. All— all of my samples were in that lab.”

“ _ What _ were they, Namjoon,” Hyunwoo demanded. “Whatever that shit is, my boys were lined up to get it.”

He swallowed, closing his eyes. “Nanites.”

_ “Namjoon-ssi,” a stern voice called.  _

_ Namjoon bowed lowly, “Yes, sir?” _

_ “Follow me. I need your assistance.” _

_ The young scientist followed easily, unwilling to upset any of the higher ups that had tended to make wayward or problematic employees ‘disappear.’ It was probably just rumors, Namjoon was sure of it but he also was never one to play with fire by refusing a head scientist. The man led Namjoon to an elevator, getting on and swiping a card that revealed a secret panel. Suddenly, the boy was feeling like maybe he should have claimed sickness or pretended to be busy. The elevator ride felt like something out of a bad action movie. They got off and stepped into a large open room filled with mechanical robots and work tables surrounded by other scientists. He led Namjoon over to a table with three men standing around it. One of them was working on a tablet, glancing at a moving swarm hovering above the table.  _

_ “Gentleman,” the scientist called, bringing all threes’ attention to the two of them. “This is Kim Namjoon, lead scientist in creating XI-47. He knows the gene coding for the virus better than anyone. If anyone can help you bind it to the nanites, it’ll be him.” He clapped Namjoon roughly on the shoulder, muttering a gruff, “Don’t let me down,” before walking away. _

_ The scientists stared at Namjoon wearily for a moment before turning the tablet to face him. “XI-47 refuses to hold to the nanite. Everytime we try to combine them either the chemical dissolves the nanite or the chemical dissolves itself.” _

_ Namjoon nodded, stepping up to the table to take a closer look at their findings. “I designed XI-47 to be volatile at best. It’s been cultured to be unpredictable in its nature. If you want to control it you first need to bind it to a living subject.” _

_ The man’s eyes widened, staring at Namjoon in horror. “You want to put XI-47  _ in _ someone?” _

_ He shook his head, glancing over to where the head scientist was talking amicably with a young woman. “It was created as a biological weapon. It doesn’t survive without a host. You want it to bind to nanites, first you need to bind it to something biological.” _

_ The shortest of the three scientists was watching Namjoon closely, eyes wide as he stared at him in something akin to horror. “What does it do?” he asked. Namjoon pitied the boy. He looked fresh out of grad school. Honors most likely. Like Namjoon. He had his whole life ahead of him if he played his cards right. _

_ “Word of advice,” he offered. “Don’t ask questions. If your boss doesn’t give you the information then you don’t need it.” _

_ “Spoken like a true BigHit employee,” the head scientist replied, clapping Namjoon on the back like a proud parent. “Get the answers you need boys?” The three nodded, eyes wide as they turned back to their work. “Excellent. I’ll be taking our Namjoon-ah back to his lab then. Goodbye, boys.”  _

_ He led Namjoon back to the elevators, pulling his phone up to his ear as the doors closed. “Station 6,” he barked into the receiver. “Yes. All three of them.” He looked down at Namjoon fondly as the younger kept his eyes firmly on the ground. “No. Kim is good for now. I’m taking him back to his department now.” _

“You— you created us— didn’t you,” Jungkook asked, staring at Namjoon in horror. “You’re the reason—”

Namjoon buried his head in his hands, shaking as he pulled at his hair. “I didn’t have a  _ choice _ . That place— it— I was fresh out of college and I wanted to  _ impress _ . But then people started to disappear and I knew that if I didn’t keep my head down and do as I was told I would have been next.” He glanced up, glaring at the boys defensively. “Do— do you really think that I was the only one capable of creating the virus? I didn’t even know what it would  _ do _ . That— that was above my pay grade and I— I followed orders.”

“Okay,” Jooheon stated, holding his hands up in peace. “Let’s back up for a second. Namjoon— what are nanites and— what will they do to us?”

“Microscopic, programmable robots.”

Gasps echoed through the camp as the boys recoiled in horror. “Bambam and JB,” Minhyuk whispered. “They’re— they’re being controlled by robots. I was— BigHit was going to control me like that too. And Kyun and Honey. And you— you’re the one that made it possible.” Namjoon shook his head frantically, standing up as he took a few frightened steps back. “You’re one of them.”

“I’m not!” he shouted. “I’m not— I never wanted any of this! I never wanted to hurt anyone,  _ please _ . You think they wouldn’t have  _ killed _ me if I had disobeyed?”

Wonho snorted, “Maybe that would have been for the best.”

“Then kill him,” Kihyun whispered. “If he’s that horrible in your eyes for surviving then kill him. But you better kill me too.”

_ Kihyun was really getting sick of these ‘sessions’ if he was honest. The handle on the back of his straight jacket had to be getting a hole with the amount of times they had dragged him from his prison to run ‘tests.’ _

_ Jimseung threw him harshly into one of the testing rooms, chuckling gleefully when Kihyun’s head met the concrete floor. A woman in sharp-looking heels stepped up to him, motioning for another guard to pull him upright. The man took great pride in bodily lifting Kihyun’s feet off of the floor as he dangled the boy in front of the scientist. In her hands she held a menacing collar. Kihyun shook his head frantically, trying to get away uselessly as she fastened it around his neck tightly.  _

_ “Drop him,” she demanded cooly, “Unless you have a desire to be shocked as well.”  _

_ The guard dropped him like hot coals, his body collapsing harshly against the ground for the second time in five minutes. Suddenly, it felt as though his entire body was being pulled taught, molten heat speeding through him as the collar shocked him. He screamed behind his gag even after the electricity stopped. The woman dropped down into a crouch, stroking Kihyun’s cheek almost lovingly. “I’m sorry, my pretty bird. We had to make sure you were all charged up and ready to sing.” She nodded to the guard who pulled his twitching body back up by his handle.  _

_ The handle was hooked onto something and then suddenly he was dangling. The woman and guard left the room. He hung there for what felt like hours, hanging limply until a door across from him opened and a body was thrown in. Suddenly the woman’s voice was back, slightly distorted as she spoke through the intercom. “This prospect is causing us a little trouble, baby bird. You’ll calm him down for us, won’t you, my sweet canary?” _

_ The body looked up, staring at Kihyun in horror. The gag around him clicked and he was finally able to push it out with his tongue for the first time in months. He licked his chapped lips, eyeing JB uncertainty.  _

_ “Sing, Canary,” the woman demanded, releasing a small zap through the shock collar for encouragement. “Or I’ll make you sing.” _

_ He opened his mouth, “I’m sorry,” he rasped, entire body shaking as he stared into JB’s resigned eyes. _

_ “I understand, Kihyun,” he whispered, swallowing around the lump in his throat. “I’d do the same to you.” _

_ Kihyun sang. _

“That’s not the same!” Minhyuk shouted. 

“What’s so different, huh?” Kihyun hissed, moving to stand next to Namjoon. “I didn’t want to die so I sacrificed JB to keep myself alive a little longer. It wasn’t the only time it happened either.” 

“Namjoon signed up for it! You didn’t!”

Kihyun huffed, wrapping his fingers around the younger’s wrist in support for the shaking giant behind him. “He applied for a job, Minhyuk. He lost all freedom after he accepted it. At least we knew we were prisoners. At least we had each other. Namjoon-ah was alone! He had no one to lean on or to ask for help. We keep preaching that we’re not alone anymore but you’re all so willing to throw Joon under the bus as soon as it’s convenient for you to use him as a scapegoat.” He turned around, pulling Namjoon’s sobbing form into his chest as he rubbed the larger man’s back soothingly. 

“I never wanted to hurt anyone. I thought I was going to work on vaccines. I wanted to help people,” he cried. “Please—”

Another set of arms wrapped around the two of them, Changkyun enveloping both of them with his shadows as he joined their hug. “Guess we’re killing me too by the hyungs’ logic.” He dropped his head against Namjoon’s bicep, pressing a soft kiss to the skin there. “It was a good run, I guess.”

Kihyun laughed wetly, smacking the back of the maknae’s head affectionately. “You dramatic brat.” He pulled the two of them towards the far tent. “We’re going to go to bed while the rest of you decide whether or not we deserve to die for surviving. Feel free to kill all three of us in our sleep. Otherwise, if we’re still alive in the morning we’ll assume you came to your senses,” he called over his shoulder before pushing the other two into the tent and zipping it up behind them. 

He laid Namjoon down, wrapping his arms around the larger man as best he could as Changkyun did the same to his other side. “It’ll be alright, Joonie,” he murmured, “The boys just need some time to realize what complete morons they’re being. As if they would have done anything different if they had been in your place.” He combed his fingers through the younger’s hair, “I’m proud of you, Namjoon. You were so brave.”

The next morning, the three of them stepped out of their tent wearily. All of the boys were lying scattered around the fire pit in fitful states of sleep. Kihyun sighed, shaking his head before making his way over to the cooler. “These idiots. They’re all going to be sore now.”

Changkyun snorted, wrapping his arm around Namjoon as he led the elder to the picnic table. “They deserve it after last night, hyung.”

“Ah,” Namjoon hummed worriedly, moving to stand up again. “Maybe I should move them all into beds.”

“Nope,” Kihyun sang, handing a few granolas to him. “We’re going to eat breakfast and then we’re going to go down to the lake and relax a bit.”

Namjoon bit his lip, turning to stare at the boys, “What if they wake up while we’re gone.”

“Then they can worry,” Changkyun growled, taking a furious bite of his own granola bar. “And when we get back, maybe,  _ maybe _ , we’ll let them grovel for forgiveness.”

Kihyun nodded in agreement, smirking. “If they’re lucky. In the meantime, Joon-ah, do you think you could carry Kyun and I at the same time?”

The camp was silent when they returned, trekking up the well worn path from the beach wearily. Namjoon was knocked to the ground almost immediately by a sobbing Taehyung. The younger boy was near hysterics as he grappled for any part of Namjoon that he could reach, pressing his face as hard as he could into the other’s chest. Namjoon wrapped his long arms around the younger, pulling him into his lap as he held him. 

“You’re okay, Tae-ah,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the shapeshifter’s head. “It’s okay.”

Taehyung shook his head frantically, clawing at Namjoon’s back desperately. “It’s not! Hyung— nothing is okay. You— you though we wanted to kill you. And then when we woke up you were gone and you— you left me! Hyungie... you left me.”

A quiet, pained whine bubbled up Namjoon’s throat as he rubbed Taehyung’s back, holding the younger as tightly as he could without hurting him. “I would never leave you, baby,” he murmured. “I love you. I’m— I’m so sorry for not telling you all about BigHit earlier. I’m so sorry.”

“We’re sorry too, Namjoon-ah,” Yoongi murmured, moving to crouch down next to the two of them. “We had no right to put the blame on you. We were shocked and scared but that doesn’t excuse our actions towards you.” He raised a hand out, palm up, and let it hover in the air between them. Namjoon stared at it for a moment before carefully threading his fingers with the elder’s. 

“All is forgiven, hyung,” Namjoon whispered. “I wouldn’t have reacted well either if the rolls had been reversed.”

“All is not forgiven, Namjoon-ah,” Kihyun scolded, folding his arms across his chest as he huffed. “Groveling. I expect some groveling from each and every single goddamn one of you. You better treat Joon-ah like a goddamn king for the next two weeks before he is even allowed to  _ think  _ about forgiving you.” He sniffed angrily, tapping his foot on the ground in agitation. “You made him cry.”

Taehyung squeezed his boyfriend tighter, wrapping each of his limbs around the man as he felt Namjoon stand up. The elder carried Taehyung back over to the firepit where he sat down on the log bench, only to immediately have another maknae cling to either side of him. Jimin and Jungkook each wrapped an arm around one of his biceps as they pressed their faces against him in silent apology. 

Namjoon patted Jungkook’s knee affectionately, swallowing around the lump forming in his throat. “You’re okay, boys,” he whispered. “It’ll be okay.”

_ Jooheon couldn’t feel anything as he stared into Gunhee’s glazed-over eyes in shock. There was still blood pooling out from the massive hole in his boyfriend’s sternum onto the tile below.  _

_ “No,” he whispered, leaning forwards in his bonds to get a closer look. “ _ No _. Gun— GUN!” He began to thrash wildly, pulling against the straight jacket frantically in his attempts to get to the boy on the floor. “Gunhee! What did you do to him?” he screamed, turning his fury on the guards.  _

_ Jimseung cackled, pulling a bound, sobbing Changkyun through the door by the handle on his straight jacket. Changkyun’s head was tipped forward, heavy sobs wracking his tiny body as he allowed himself to be thrown around. “Your sweet little maknae has a darkside,” the guard sang, releasing a hyena laugh at his put. “Unfortunately, he’s too much of a liability to be kept with the rest of you anymore. Say ‘bye bye’!” _

_ “No! Changkyun-ah!” Jooheon felt the energy crackle under his skin like fireworks. “Don’t you fucking touch him! What are you going to do to him? NO!” Jimseung pulled Changkyun out, the boy completely unresponsive as he cried out for Gunhee. “Changkyun! Bring him back!” he screamed, thrashing wildly. The lights above him flicker wildly before some of the bulbs burst completely. Distantly, he could hear the others in the room trying to calm him down as their hair stood up on end but he couldn’t care less. His eyes kept flickering between the door that Changkyun had been dragged through and Gunhee’s lifeless body lying on the floor.  _

_ A group of guards stormed through the door, guns pointing at the distraught boy as they waited for the signal. Before anyone could react, electricity arched out from Jooheon. The guards in the doorway dropped to the floor, shaking violently as the lightning ran through them before falling still. There was a series of frantic shouting from the hallway as an alarm began to blare.  _

_ Jooheon continued to release electric bolts, frying the walls and ceilings as he gasped for breath around his own sobs. Hyunwoo and Minhyuk were shouting frantically, pulling at their own bonds as they tried to get the younger to calm down. The boy was beyond consoling, his eyes sparking dangerously as they flashed yellow with electricity. A large violent arc of energy cracked across the ceiling just as a different alarm went off and suddenly the room was being doused in water as the sprinkler system came on full force. The boys were all drenched in ice cold water in seconds as Jooheon gasped, choking on the air as he shorted out. His head fell forward, eyes closing as all the energy was sucked from him.  _ At least, _ he thought as his world faded around him,  _ if they kill me, at least I won’t be alone.

_ The first thing he noticed when Jooheon woke up was how  _ wet _ he was. His straight jacket had been removed but his wrists and waist were shackled to the floor, held under a pool of water that reached just below his pectorals. His neck was killing him as a collar held his head up above the water. He screamed, thrashing in the water angrily.  _

_ In response, the sprinkler system turned on again. He gasped at the ice cold liquid raining down on him, shivering violently. Jooheon looked around, noting that he was completely alone in the pool. He shifted, trying to make himself more comfortable. _

_ “It’ll be okay,” Jooheon murmured to himself, blinking the water from his eyes. “Have faith, Jooheon. We’ll be okay.” _

The following weeks were tense around the camp. Kihyun made sure that each boy begged for forgiveness despite Namjoon trying to write-off their actions, which just made the boys feel more guilty. Currently, Minhyuk had Namjoon between his legs, petting the younger’s hair as they watched Yoongi and Hyungwon face off. 

Wonho had agreed to be the damsel in distress, holding his hands behind his back as his wings flapped gently in the summer breeze. The fire bender was in charge of guarding Wonho as Hyungwon tried to get to him. So far, the two of them had reached a stalemate as Hyungwon sighed in frustration on his side of the beach. Any time the younger had tried to get close, Yoongi would throw out a wave of heat that would force Hyungwon to retreat. He had tried to take the lake water and dump it on the elder’s head but the instant it touched Yoongi’s skin the water would hiss as it evaporated. 

He turned to Hoseok angrily, “I can’t do it, Hoseok.”

“You can, Hyungwon-ah. Don’t let Yoongi move.”

Hyungwon shook his head, turning away. “I’m not— I won’t do that to any of you.”

“Why not, Wonnie?” Seokjin asked from his place against Hyunwoo’s side. 

“Because it’ll  _ kill you _ ,” he bit out. “I can control someone’s blood, sure. But I pull a person with their blood. It stops flowing when I take control. I won’t— I won’t do it to any of you.”

Wonho stood up, making his way over to the anxious boy, wrapping his arm around the smaller man with ease as he pulled him into his chest. “Why don’t you practice with me? You know I’ll come back.”

Hyungwon shook his head frantically, pulling away as he backed up down the beach some more. “No— I’m not doing it. I can’t I—”

Changkyun stepped forward, deftly wrapping his fingers around the elder’s wrist. “Let’s go for a walk, hyung.”

The elder nodded, going easily with the boy as they moved off down the beach. 

“That didn’t go very well,” Hoseok observed, frowning slightly. 

Wonho snorted, moving back to his perch from earlier. “No shit, kid. Now— who’s going to save me from Yoongi?”

Jimin grinned, jumping up excitedly. “Can I try?”

The fire bender nodded, shifting his feet as Jimin got into his starting position. The younger grinned widely, hopping up and down. 

Jin chuckled, tilting his head to rest it on Hyunwoo’s arms as he counted down. “Three, two, one, GO!”

The younger boy lept into action immediately, jumping off to the left before strafing right again. He giggled, jumping again to land behind Yoongi. Unfortunately for him, the elder predicted that easily and turned around just in time to send a stream of fire towards him. Jimin yelped, jumping back across the safety line as he patted his smoking sweatshirt frantically. “Fuck,” he mumbled. The boy took a deep breath before jumping again, this time to the back left of Yoongi. He was a few feet away from Wonho and decided,  _ fuck it _ , and ran towards the elder. Yoongi, laughed, sending a soft swirling tornado of fire towards Jimin which made him scream as he jumped away. “Damnit, hyung,” he swore, crossing his arms angrily. “How are you so good at this?”

Yoongi smiled, sending the younger a wink before opening his arms in a ‘come at me’ motion. 

The younger thought for a moment, pacing slightly before it came to him. He grinned widely, teleporting into the water quickly before teleporting over to Wonho and grabbing the man. He felt Yoongi’s fire lick his arm as he jumped away with his elder in toe, safely making it to their side of the border. Jimin crowed in delight, doing a little dance as he celebrated. 

“Minnie,” Wonho whispered. “Fuck, Min-ah. You’re hurt.”

Jimin froze, turning to face the elder. “Huh?” He looked down, noticing the bright red burn already puffing up against his forearm. “Ah— fuck.”

“Shit, Jimin,” Yoongi huffed, running across the line to wrap his arms around the younger’s waist. “Why didn’t you jump away?”

“Because I needed to get Wonho-hyung,” Jimin explained, just barely holding back from rolling his eyes at the elder. “It was kinda the point of the exercise, hyung. Besides, water acted as a barrier— look! The burn could have been way worse if I hadn’t jumped in the water first.”

Yoongi sighed, dropping his head onto Jimin’s shoulder in exasperation. “Idiot,” he muttered fondly.

“Let me see,” Wonho demanded, not waiting for Jimin to hand the appendage over before gently taking the limb into his own hands. He hummed in disapproval, gently stroking over the reddened skin with his hand. Jimin hissed, trying to pull his hand away with little success. Wonho hushed him softly before doing the same motion again. The younger stared in fascination as each time Wonho dragged his hand across the skin the burn healed more until he was left with clear, smooth skin.

“What the fuck,” he muttered, pulling his arm away to feel for himself that the burn was actually gone. “Since when can you heal someone else, hyung?”

Wonho shrugged, smiling guiltily. “No clue? Just— felt right.”

Hoseok giggled, jumping up as he clapped his hands excitedly. “You did it, hyung! I knew you could!”

The elder rolled his eyes fondly, reaching over to ruffle Hoseok’s bangs. “Of course you did, Mr. I-talk-only-in-riddles. Anything else you want to share with the class?”

The redhead paused, blinking slowly for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, the scream we’re about to hear isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds— probably.”

The others cocked their heads in confusion just as Hyunwon’s voice broke through the trees, loud and terrified as he screamed, “Changkyun! No!”

Hyungwon sighed, dropping his head to rest on the top of Changkyun’s as they watched the water flow down a creek bed in a small clearing up the hill from the lake. “Thank you,” he murmured, tilting his head slightly to press a kiss to the other’s hair. 

“Any time, hyung,” Changkyun responded, threading his fingers through the elder’s. “Hyung is right, though. I’m sure you could do it if you practiced.”

He huffed angrily, shaking his head. “I’m not hurting any of you.”

Changkyun laughed, “Not on us silly. You need to practice controlling water without interrupting it’s natural flow.” He pointed to the creek. “Pull the water up without making it break the stream.”

The elder paused, thinking about it carefully before sitting up. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, slowly lifting the water from the creek bed. The first few times were duds, the water lying stagnant when he lifted it.

“Keep trying, hyung,” Changkyun murmured, kissing the elder’s shoulder in encouragement. “You can do it.” Hyungwon frowned in concentration, carefully pulling the water out of the stream again. Changkyun reached out excitedly, dragging his hand through the moving water. “You’re so cool, hyung,” he praised. “You’re doing it.”

His eyes widened in amazement, reaching out to feel for himself, “Wow.”

“You’re amazing. Can you make it do more? Maybe take it on a roller coaster ride!”

Hyungwon rolled his eyes at the younger fondly, humoring him as he turned the stream into a mock roller coaster track, the water flowing through the entirety of it before flowing back into the creek. Changkyun ran over to a small clump of dried leaves, dropping them into the creek upstream. They watched as the leaves traveled through Hyungwon’s roller coaster before continuing down to the lake undisturbed. “I did it,” he marveled, watching the leaves float out of sight as he let the water fall back down. “I— actually did it.”

Changkyun nodded excitedly. “You did, hyung!”

He smiled widely, pulling the moving water again as he let it flow through the clearing. “Thank you, Kyunnie— for believing in me.”

They were silent for a while, watching the water flutter around before Changkyun turned to Hyungwon seriously. “You should try it on something living.”

The elder shook his head, water splashing to the ground in his shock, “ _ No,  _ Changkyun. I refuse to endanger you or any one of the others. So you can get that thought out of your head right now.”

Changkyun rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean  _ me _ ,” he pointed over to where a fat rabbit was munching on a bush on the other side of the clearing. “I want to pet the bunny. Bring it over here for me.”

Hyungwon’s eyes widened in horror. “ _ No! _ Changkyun, I refuse to hurt a— a bunny because you have some misguided faith in me.”

The younger shrugged, brushing off the dirt from his pants as he stood up. “Alright then,” he agreed easily. Changkyun walked over towards the small cliff face, turning back to Hyungwon as he slowly continued to walk backwards. “Better stop me before I hurt myself then,” he called.

The water bender choked on the air as he stared at the younger in terror. “Changkyun,” he warned, standing up. “Don’t even think about it, Changkyun. Stop— Stop walking backwards.”

Changkyun grinned, shaking his head. “Stop me, hyung.”

Hyungwon ran forward, only for two black masses to wrap around his arms, holding him in place. “Changkyun! You brat! Stop right this instant!”

“Make me,” he taunted, tightening his shadows’ hold on the elder. 

The younger was feet from the ledge, smirking as he took another step backwards. Hyungwon struggled furiously in Changkyun’s hold. “Goddamnit, kid. I swear to god—” The boy took another step back, right on the ledge. He screamed. 

_ “Changkyun! No!” _

Changkyun flew through the air, landing heavily against Hyungwon’s chest before the elder wrapped his arms around him tightly. The man was sobbing, clutching the younger to his chest as he gasped frantically. “You idiot!” he screamed, ignoring the stampede of feet that crashed through the treeline. He pulled Changkyun back by the shoulders, shaking him furiously. “You complete and utter piece of shit!” Before he knew it, his fist was flying, making contact with Changkyun’s cheek and sending the younger to the ground. 

The hyungs gasped behind him, Jin breathing out a scandalized, “ _ Hyungwon _ .”

He dropped to his knees, tears blurring his vision as he gathered Changkyun into his arms, holding the younger tightly even as Changkyun nursed his jaw. “I hate you,” he whispered. “I do. I hate you so much right now.” He squeezed the younger even tighter. “Don’t you ever do something like that again, you asshole. You’re never leaving my side.”

“What the hell just happened?” Kihyun barked, worry evident in his voice even as he glared at the younger boys. 

“Hyung just reached his ‘final form,’” Changkyun informed gleefully.

Hoseok laughed, shaking his head. “Nope,” he sang, wagging his finger at the younger. “Not yet he hasn’t.”

Hyungwon’s eyes widened. “I can do  _ more _ ? Like what?”

The elder smirked, tilting his head towards the way they came, “Why don’t we go practice some more and find out?”

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to formally apologize for the lateness of this update. I must admit, I struggled massively with starting this but once I finally knew where I was going, I pumped this out in like four days. I'd also like to say sorry because I'm a liar XD. There is no GOT7 in this one however they will have a very large roll in part 4. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who gave me amazing ideas for the boys' powers. It really helped me a lot over the course of writing this. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading and I'll see you in the next part!


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